
Cfass ^M-hl^O 

Book , A- & 

Copyright^ - 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT, 



The Commission 
Executed 



OR 



A Study of the New Testament 

Conversions and Other 

Evangelistic Topics 



BY 

E/V. ZOLLARS, A. M., LL. D, 

PRESIDENT OF OKLAHOMA 
CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY 

Author of 

"Bible Geography," "The Great Salvation," 

"Hebrew Prophecy," "The Word 

of Truth," "The King 

of Kings," etc. 



Designed for the classroom , the 
study and advanced Bible classes 



cincinnati, ohio 
The Standard Publishing Company 

1912 



1^ 







The Standard Publishing Co. 



IV 



©CI.A357842 



To those who are seeking a better understanding 

of the way of salvation, as it is revealed in the 

preaching and work of the apostles of our 

Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, 

this volume is lovingly 

dedicated. 



PREFACE 



THE teachings, commonly known as "first prin- 
ciples," among the disciples of Christ have 
been familiar to me as far back as I can re- 
member. I am a disciple almost by birthright, if I 
may use such an expression without being misunder- 
stood. When I was a little boy, probably not more 
than five years old, my father and mother made the 
"good confession" in their own house, for the old log 
house was open to the preaching of the early pioneers 
from their first visits to southern Ohio, early in the 
fifties. A deep impression was made on me when 
my father and mother were buried with their Lord in 
Christian baptism. The plain, simple conditions of 
admission into the Church of Christ were deeply im- 
pressed upon my mind by the forceful, shall I not 
say powerful, sermons of a class of preachers, than 
whom no stronger men in natural gift: have arisen 
among us even unto the present day. Before I was 
ten years old, I had listened frequently to such men 
as J. J. M. Dickey, Father Jarvis, John Frame, Joseph 
Dunn, Benjamin Franklin, and a number of others of 
like or less fame. In addition to these early advan- 
tages, for I certainly feel they were great advantages, 
I have read the literature of my brethren along the 
line of first principles until the doctrines have been 
so deeply fastened in my mind that it seems strange 



viii PREFACE 

to me that any mistake in this matter could ever have 
been made by good people who were seeking and 
teaching the way of salvation. 

In preparing this volume, I know that I am in- 
debted very deeply to what I have read and what I 
have heard, yet how to give the credit due I know 
not further than to say I claim no merit for orig- 
inality. If the thoughts are familiar for the most 
part to many of the readers of this little volume, it 
is because they have enjoyed privileges similar to 
my own. If even the phraseology in many cases is 
strikingly familiar, do not blame me, for how can I 
help it, since I have become thoroughly saturated 
with the teaching, both verbal and written? Cer- 
tainly, if I say many things in much the same way 
that others have said them, it will not be wondered 
at under the circumstances. 

I have prepared this volume largely for class- 
room work, because I believe that every young man 
preparing for the ministry should be thoroughly 
enlightened on what we commonly call "First Prin- 
ciples of the Gospel." I hold that every one 
should be so intimately acquainted with the conver- 
sions of the New Testament that if he should be 
suddenly called on to preach on any one of them, he 
could do so without previous notice. 

I fear that some are drifting away from the old 
landmarks that so clearly characterized the restora- 
tion movement in its earlier days. Some of the old 
themes that used to be handled with telling effect 
by the pioneers, are now seldom preached from some 
pulpits. It is, however, a noticeable fact that when 
"first principles ,, are shunned, evangelistic results are 
correspondingly meager. The men who are emi- 



PREFACE ix 

nently successful in bringing souls to Christ are the 
men who preach a full gospel; its facts, commands 
and promises are all declared. Show me the man 
who eliminates "first principles" from his preaching 
and I will show you one who has eliminated the 
baptistry from his church, so far as it is of any 
practical service; nay, I will show you a man who 
is in doubt as to whether the disciples, as a people, 
have any distinctive message for the world. Let us 
never forget that the union of the people of God, 
by a return to New Testament Christianity, will be 
a peculiar and distinctive message, so long as Chris- 
tians are divided into hostile or semi-hostile sects 
through departures from the Christianity of the apos- 
tolic day. 

If this volume shall be of service to some who 
are laboring for the restoration of the apostolic 
Church in its doctrines, practices and fruits, the 
hope of its author will be realized. 



CONTENTS 



Chapter 


I. 


Chapter 


II. 


Chapter 


III. 


Chapter 


IV. 


Chapter 


V. 


Chapter 


VI. 


Chapter 


VII. 


Chapter 


VIII. 


Chapter 


IX. 


Chapter 


X. 


Chapter 


XL 


Chapter 


XII. 


Chapter 


XIII. 


Chapter 


XIV. 


Chapter 


XV. 


Chapter 


XVI. 


Chapter 


XVII. 


Chapter 


XVIII. 


Chapter 


XIX. 


Chapter 


XX. 


Chapter 


XXL 


Chapter 


XXII. 


Chapter 


XXIII. 


Chapter 


XXIV. 


Chapter 


XXV. 


Chapter 


XXVI. 



Page. 

The Mystery of Godliness i 

The Resurrection of Christ 18 

The Great Commission 29 

Conversion 52 

The Conversion of the Three Thou- 
sand 63 

The Conversions at the Temple 75 

The Conversion of the Samaritans... 89 

The Conversion of the Eunuch 98 

The Conversion of Saul 108 

The Conversion of Cornelius 119 

The Conversion of Lydia 128 

The Conversion of the Jailer 141 

The Great Invitation 150 

The Great Salvation 173 

The Speech of the First Christian 

Martyr 185 

The Prodigal Son : Going Away 195 

The Prodigal Son: Coming Home 202 

The Appeal of the Bible to the Young 209 

The Faith that Saves 221 

Life the Price of Life 228 

Leaving the First Love 2^7 

The Intermediate State 247 

Shall We Know Each Other There?. 261 
True Liberty : Its Nature, Necessary 

Conditions, Etc 271 

The Emancipation Proclamation 281 

Grounds of Confidence for the 
Triumph of Truth 288 



XI 



The Commission Executed 



CHAPTER I. 
The Mystery of Godliness. 

Text. — I. Tim. 3: 16: "And without controversy great is the 
mystery of godliness; He who was manifested in the flesh, 
Justified in the Spirit, Seen of angels, Preached among the 
nations, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory." 

The old version reads, "God was manifest in the 
flesh," instead of "He who was manifested in the 
flesh," and a marginal note in the Revised Version 
says that the clause "He who" is supplanted by the 
word "which" in some ancient authorities. 

It will be seen that we have an inspired comment 
on the word "Godliness" in the text itself. The God- 
liness referred to is not the Godliness of man, which 
is not a mystery and is never so represented. The 
Godliness of men is godly living, or a reproduction, 
according to plain instructions, of the Godliness or 
Godlikeness as seen in Jesus. That the Godliness 
of men is accomplished through the indwelling of 
the Holy Spirit is clearly taught, and this indwell- 
ing may involve that which is mysterious, but the 
Godliness or Godlikeness accomplished through the 
indwelling "is not a mystery. The Godliness as set 



2 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

forth in this passage is, however, declared to be a 
mystery. This is the Godliness or Godlikeness of 
Christ. In other words, it is the incarnation of God 
that constitutes the mystery, as the language in ex- 
planation clearly shows. That which is represented 
as a mystery is set forth in the first clause and 
further qualified in the succeeding clauses of the 
text. We will take these clauses up and consider 
them in succession: 

I. "He who was manifested in the flesh." Here 
the mystery is stated. 

Men reject this mystery, because they can not 
understand it, but a little reflection shows the under- 
lying vital necessity. 

1. A vision of God is the starting-point in the 
upward progress of man. There is no true develop- 
ment that does not take God into the account. There 
is a religious factor entering into the complex being 
we call man. This must be developed co-ordinately 
with his other constitutional factors, and there is 
no such thing as true religious development with- 
out a vision of the one true and living God. 
To see God is, therefore, the fundamental necessity. 
This does not, of course, mean that the spiritual 
God must appear, or can appear, to the eye of flesh, 
but it means that there must be an intellectual and 
spiritual vision, a vision of faith, as the starting-point 
of all symmetrical growth; and the subject of this 
vision must come in concrete form. I have no confi- 
dence in any system or agency for the development 
of man that eliminates or disregards the idea of God 
as presented in Jesus Christ. 

2. The reason why man needs this concrete 
vision of God is not hard to discover: 



CONCRETE VISION OF GOD 3 

(1) It is required for a proper understanding of 
him. Man is so constituted that he approaches the 
abstract through the concrete. God must, therefore, 
be represented to man in terms and forms of a 
concrete being, in order that man may lay hold upon 
him and thus mount up to the spiritual conception of 
Deity. This constitutional requirement serves to ex- 
plain the multitudinous forms of idolatry that have 
cursed mankind. It is the effort of man to bring the 
God idea within his own comprehension by making 
an image of Him. God has met this demand of the 
human soul by clothing himself in human flesh and 
walking before us in the form of a man. Therefore 
said Jesus, "He that hath seen me, hath seen the 
Father/' He who ridicules the incarnation shows him- 
self to be ingorant of a great fundamental, constitu- 
tional need of the human soul. That this incarnation 
is a mystery, no one can deny, but that it is necessary 
to true human development, is both a psychological 
and theological doctrine. 

(2) It is also true that human growth or devel- 
opment is accomplished through the operation of 
the principle of imitation. We are not transformed 
or developed through the apprehension of mere eth- 
ical doctrines, but by the incarnation of right prin- 
ciples and ideas, which we are thus enabled to imi- 
tate. These are seen in all their fullness when the 
attributes of God are presented in the form of man, 
thus giving us a model for our imitation. We can not 
imitate the abstract. Imitation demands a concrete 
model, therefore said the apostle Paul, "Be ye fol- 
lowers of me, even as I am of Christ. " It will be 

seen, therefore, that there is a deep and far-reaching 



4 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

significance in the incarnation of God in the person 
of Jesus Christ. 

3. Man also desires a vision of God. It is not 
something that is forced upon him. (1) This desire 
seems to be universal. Otherwise, why is it that 
no race or tribe, however small or insignificant, has 
been found that was destitute of religion? This is 
now a generally conceded truth. Religion is a uni- 
versal fact. It is found wherever man exists. Could 
this be true if man did not instinctively reach out 
after God? Paul spoke of men feeling after God, and 
Philip said to the Master, "Lord, show us the Father 
and it sufficeth us." The goodness of God is no- 
where more conspicuous than in the manifesting of 
himself in flesh, which the apostle here declared to 
be the great mystery of Godliness. (2) If this desire 
is universal, it is doubtless constitutional or results 
from a constitutional need, and this points to grati- 
fication. All constitutional needs are provided for 
through the divine wisdom and goodness, therefore 
"God manifest in the flesh" is the answer of the 
loving Father to the want he has implanted in the 
creatures that he has made. Just as he has pro- 
vided light for the eye, and sound for the ear, and 
food for the hunger of man, so he has provided a 
manifestation of himself that meets man's cry for 
God. 

We come next to the qualifying or explanatory 
clauses: 

II. Justified in the Spirit. 

1. The nature of a proposition determines the 
character of evidence needed for its establishment. 
This is a statement that appeals to reason and 
common sense. Extraordinary claims demand extra- 






EXTRAORDINARY PROOF DEMANDED 5 

ordinary proof, ordinary claims can be established 
by ordinary proofs. (1) Jesus Christ puts forth 
extraordinary claims. They were in fact superhuman. 
He claimed to have come forth from God, and that he 
had an existence with the Father before the world 
was. He consequently assumed to speak with a 
dogmatism and an authority such as only God might 
exercise. He did not reason from the known to the 
unknown, but stated the ultimate facts with perfect 
assurance. He exercised prerogatives that only God 
may exercise ; he assumed to forgive sins ; in short, 
in his claims and in his attitude toward men he 
represented himself as God. Consequently John 
says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the 
Word was with God, and the Word was God. The 
same was in the beginning with God. And the 
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." (2) 
These claims demanded superhuman testimony in 
their support. Those who try to eliminate the super- 
human evidences are logically compelled to deny the 
claims. To admit the claims and deny the super- 
human testimonies involve a logical inconsistency. 
Rest assured whenever the superhuman evidences of 
Christ's claim are overthrown the claims themselves 
will have to go. 

2. The extraordinary evidence demanded was 
given through the agency of the Spirit. Christ's 
coming was predicted through the inspiration of the 
Holy Spirit, and His life was lived under his power 
and dominion. (1) The prophet Isaiah pointed for- 
ward to Christ centuries before his advent. His life 
was foretold in many of its minute particulars, and 
the character and peculiarities of his kingdom were 
set forth. The multitude of predictions concerning 

(2) 



6 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

Christ and his kingdom constitute one of the most 
striking features of the Old Testament. (2) At his 
baptism the Spirit of God appeared in the form of a 
dove and abode upon Christ, and a voice from heaven 
came, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I 
am well pleased/ 1 This striking manifestation of the 
Spirit at this particular time is very suggestive, 
owing to the fact that Christ was, at that time, just 
entering upon his public ministry. (3) He w r as led 
by the Spirit into the wilderness to undergo the 
temptation, and through the power of the Spirit he 
triumphed and came forth and entered upon his 
public work. (4) His wisdom and miracle-working 
powers were attributed to the Spirit. Luke says that 
Jesus quoted the following words from the prophet 
Isaiah and applied them to himself: "The Spirit of 
the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to 
preach good tidings to the poor ; he sent me to pro- 
claim release to the captives and recovering of sight 
to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised; 
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." (5) 
The writer of Hebrews says Jesus offered himself 
through the Spirit; that is, he made the great sin- 
offering through and by the power of the Spirit. The 
language is as follows : Hcb. 9 : 14, "How much 
more" (than the blood of bulls and goats) "shall the 
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit of- 
fered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your 
conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" 
(6) In Rom. 1 : 14, Paul teaches that Jesus was 
raised from the dead through the Spirit of holiness, 
and thus declared to be the Son of God with power, 
and Peter declares that he was quickened (that is, 
raised from the dead) by the Spirit. (7) John gives 



THE INTEREST OF ANGELS 7 

a comprehensive statement of the spiritual endow- 
ment of Christ by declaring that God gave not the 
Spirit by measure unto him. This, of course, means 
that there was no restriction in his spiritual qualifica- 
tions. He did not receive the Spirit by measure, but 
without measure, in unlimited degree. All this may 
serve to give us some idea of the meaning of the 
phrase, "Justified in the Spirit." 

III. "Seen of angels" is the next specification. 

1. This great mystery of the Godlikeness was a 
matter of deep interest to the angels of God. The 
Cherubim, gazing down on the mercy-seat, symbol- 
ically represented the interest of angels, the Shekina, 
symbolizing the divine presence. But this divine 
presence was presented in its most effulgent form 
when God was manifest in the flesh. 

Angels have played no inconspicuous part in carry- 
ing out the divine purposes and plans. They seem 
to have been, not only interested spectators, but 
conspicuous actors in the great drama of human 
redemption. 

2. This interest was shown on numerous occa- 
sions as recorded in the New Testament history. 
(1) At the time of His birth an angel choir sang 
in the upper air, saying: "Glory to God in the 
highest, and on earth peace and good will to men." 
They sang the first cradle song of the infant Re- 
deemer, forecasting peace to men through the agency 
of him who was then sleeping as a babe in the 
arms of his virgin mother. We delight to think of 
the angels thus honoring the babe of Bethlehem, but 
it was not possible for them to reflect honor upon 
him, but rather they were honored by him whose 
advent they celebrated. (2) After Jesus had passed 



8 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

through the temptations in the wilderness, and had 
been victorious over Satan at every point of his at- 
tack, angels came and ministered unto him, supplying 
his pressing necessities after the fast of forty days and 
forty nights. No more fitting time can be imagined 
for such angelic ministry. Jesus had triumphed over 
the blandishments of Satan presented in three of the 
most potent forms of temptation. He was exhausted 
in body by reason of the long fast, and through the 
mental strain superinduced by his wonderful experi- 
ences. He perhaps had come, for the first time, into 
conscious realization of the possession of miraculous 
power, for we have no account of his having exer- 
cised such powers up to that time. He was facing 
the mighty work that he came down from heaven 
to do, and it is at such a juncture that the angelic 
ministry is introduced. (3) At his transfiguration, 
Moses and Elijah, the giver and the restorer of the 
law, appeared from the other world and talked with 
him concerning his decease which was soon to be 
accomplished at Jerusalem. True, these were not 
angels in the sense of being unfallen spirits, but 
they were angels in an equally important sense, 
having been the great messengers of God to his 
people and agents in accomplishing the preparatory 
steps in the development of the great plan of re- 
demption. (4) Angels announced his resurrection. 
They were the first preachers of one great fact of 
the gospel. The disciples of our Lord, when preach- 
ing his gospel, should feel themselves greatly honored 
in being permitted to stand in such a wonderful suc- 
cession. The gospel messengers constitute a great 
line of heroes, beginning with the angel preachers 
at the open tomb of Joseph of Arimathea and ex- 



THE WORK OF ANGELS 9 

tending down to the present time. (5) Angels 
accompanied the risen Saviour back to the courts of 
heaven, and as he ascended angels appeared and 
announced to the waiting disciples that the same 
Jesus that they had seen ascending would in like 
manner come again. It was an angel voice that 
commanded the gates of heaven to be lifted up and 
let the King of glory in. Angels responded to the 
challenge, and swung open the doors for the tri- 
umphal entry. Jesus was accompanied, doubtless* 
by those he had liberated from the unseen world. 
The inhabitants of heaven are represented as wor- 
shiping him, saying: "Worthy is the Lamb that 
hath been slain to receive the power, and riches, and 
wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and bless- 
ing." We are also told that angels are not only in- 
terested in Christ, but in his disciples, and that they 
are sent forth to minister to them who are the heirs 
of salvation. These wonderful facts give a peculiar 
significance to the clause, "Seen of angels," and in- 
vest it with a deep, far-reaching significance. 

IV. "Preached among the nations" constitutes 
the next item in the category. 

1. The saving of men through the preaching of 
the gospel was not a human conception. It did not 
originate in the human mind. It was not a plan 
developed by the aid of human reason. "The world 
by wisdom knew not God." The preaching of the 
cross is a divine, not a human, philosophy. Paul 
said that this preaching of Christ was "to the Jew 
a stumbling-block, and to the Greek foolishness." 
That is to say, it not only did not originate with 
men, but was contrary to the wisdom and judgment 
of men. True, we may dimly comprehend the 






10 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

philosophy of the divine plan of saving men through 
the preaching of the cross after this plan has once 
been put into operation, but man did not originate 
it and could not in the beginning comprehend it, 
and even now perhaps our conception falls short of 
its deep, divine meaning. 

2. To the Jew this system was incomprehensible, 
because it set aside the Mosaic institution as a me- 
dium of approach to God. It declared that the blood 
of bulls and goats could not take away sin, that the 
law of Moses had been taken out of the way, and 
that the Jewish people no longer enjoyed exclusive 
prerogatives. This latter fact was a stumbling-block, 
even to Christ's apostles, and prevented them from 
carrying the gospel to the Gentiles in obedience to 
the commission, until Peter and Saul had been mi- 
raculously convinced of the universal character of the 
religion of Christ. 

3. To the Gentiles the preaching of the cross 
was foolishness, because it fell entirely outside of 
the scope of human philosophy. The idea of saving 
men through a personal trust in a person, and that 
to one who had died an ignominious death, and was 
declared to have risen from the dead, seemed to be 
nothing short of silly nonsense, and yet Paul says, 
"It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to 
save them that believe/' 

4. Its efficacy, as a transforming and elevating 
agency, is shown in its practical results. True, many 
of our philosophers to-day cast it aside as unworthy 
of consideration, as did the Athenians in Paul's day, 
but the results achieved through nineteen hundred 
years of history demonstrate its power. No human 
system is comparable to it as measured by results. 






FAITH FUNDAMENTAL AND PERSONAL 11 

No scheme of man's invention has ever approached 
it either in purpose or achievement. All that is 
blessed in our civilization to-day is the fruit directly 
or indirectly of the preaching of the cross of Christ. 
The best in literature, the best in ethics, the best 
in government, the best in art, the best in music are 
the results of Christian influence and sentiment. 
""Preached unto the Gentiles" means the setting in 
operation of the most salutary influence that has ever 
blessed mankind. 

V. "Believed on in the world" constitutes the 
next item in the enumeration. 

1. Faith is the fundamental necessity. It is the 
starting-point in every worthy undertaking. The 
farmer ploughs his field and sows his seed through 
faith. The merchant engages in his varied activities 
through faith. The mechanic plies his trade through 
faith. The professional man pursues his calling by 
faith. The traveler starts on his joui-ney through 
faith; in fact, all the activities of the world are based 
on faith. Without faith, therefore, no man can please 
himself or please his fellowman. 

2. Christian faith is a personal matter and that, 
too, in a double sense of the term. (1) It can not be 
performed by proxy ; no one can believe for another. 
One man's faith may influence another to believe, 
but the faith itself is personal. No matter how earn- 
estly one may desire to see another believe, he can 
do no more than to present the evidence upon which 
an intellectual faith can rest. Therefore, infant 
church membership, necessarily implying salvation 
without faith, is indefensible. (2) It is personal in 
its object. "Believed on" is the phrase, not "Believed 
about." We do not become Christians by believing 



12 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

something about Jesus, and this is a matter that is 
often overlooked, even by the preachers of the gos- 
pel. Often we hear it said, the Christian faith is the 
belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, but this is a 
mistake. The Christian faith is a personal trust in 
Jesus Christ, because he is the Son of God. He 
that believeth on the Son hath life, not he that be- 
lieveth something about the Son. He may believe 
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and not believe 
on him, and consequently not have eternal life. 
. When we believe on the Son, we put ourselves en- 
tirely in his hands ; we are under his authority and 
consequently must yield obedience to his commands, 
both in becoming Christians and in leading a Chris- 
tian life. 

3. We are not surprised, therefore, that the Scrip- 
tures make faith the starting-point. It is the first 
requirement. The commission of Christ sends men 
to preach the gospel for the sake of making people 
believers. Just as all worldly activities must begin 
in faith, so Christian life begins at that point. 
Neither is it a race or class matter. The obligation 
and necessity is just as wide as humanity, hence we 
are told, "Without faith it is impossible to please 
God." This does not mean that we are saved by 
faith alone. Salvation from sin, and the eternal sal- 
vation in the future world, depend on something 
more than faith alone. There are commands to be 
obeyed before there can be promises enjoyed, hence 
Christian faith is only the starting-point; it is not 
the end of Christian life. 

4. It is something more than intellectual action. 
A person may believe a proposition intellectually, 
but to believe on a person calls for the exercise of 



REASON FOR CHRISTIAN FAITH 13 

the affections. We can believe something about 
Christ intellectually, but we can not believe on him 
except through the heart. This phrase, "Believed 
on," is, therefore, very significant, and it explains 
the reason why so many believe something about 
Christ who never become Christians. Their faith has 
never reached the affections and desires which is 
always necessary to produce action. 

5. This faith results from the intrinsic qualities 
of the person believed on. Jesus had none of the 
things that men rely on to impress their fellowman. 
(1) He was born into a humble family and grew up 
amidst lowly surroundings. (2) He did not come 
to his work, at the age of thirty, from the schools. 
It had not been his privilege to sit at the feet 
of philosophers. He came from the despised city 
of Nazareth. (3) The men whom he selected as 
his apostles were all humble men. He did not 
call the wealthy and the powerful around him, but 
those whose opportunities for education had been 
limited, and whose worldly possessions were very 
small. Napoleon said, "God fights on the side of 
the heavy artillery/' Jesus Christ, in the estab- 
lishment of his kingdom, did not rely on the heavy 
artillery. If he is believed on in the world, it has not 
been on account of any of the accessories that the 
worldly great have relied upon. 

VI. "Received up into glory" is the climax of 
statement in this wonderful enumeration. 

1. As we have seen, Christianity is linked closely 
with the miraculous. Miracle was present at every 
stage of its development, until the kingdom had been 
established through the agency of the apostles. 
Those who are trying to eliminate miracles from 



14 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

the Christian system, will, if they succeed, eliminate 
Christianity itself, but this will never happen. 

The ascension of Christ was another instance in 
the long chain of miracles wrought in the develop- 
ment and establishment of his kingdom, and it was 
a necessary part of the divine plan. Alan's three 
intellectual and spiritual needs are that of prophet, 
priest and king. Christ ascended to take his throne 
as king or moral ruler of the universe. When he 
took his seat God declared that he should reign until 
all enemies had been put under his feet. As Ruler 
of the moral and spiritual universe, he has not dele- 
gated his power to any one else. Nobody has any 
right or authority to legislate for him. He is su- 
preme. Notwithstanding this, there is one, as Paul 
foretold, who "opposeth and exalteth himself against 
all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that 
he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth 
as God;" in short, claiming divine honors and pre- 
rogatives. This wickedness and apostasy designated 
by the apostle as "the mystery of lawlessness, " 
had even in his day begun to work, and its later 
development has been fraught with great mischief to 
the kingdom of God, but the day is coming when 
all opposing authority will be put down and Christ 
will be "All in all." 

2. The ascension of Christ is an abundantly at- 
tested fact. It shows that it is an item of great im- 
portance in the divine scheme of redemption. It 
was typified in the Tabernacle worship. The high 
priest was a type of Christ, and when he went into 
the most holy place, once a year, with the blood of 
the victim to sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat, he 
typified Christ's ascension into heaven to present his 



THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST 15 

own blood as a ransom for sin. The writer of 
Hebrews, referring to the Christian hope, says: 
"Which we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope 
both sure and steadfast and entering into that which 
is within the veil ; whither as a forerunner Jesus 
entered for us, having become a high priest for ever 
after the order of Melchizedek. ,, All this points 
unmistakably to the ascension and entrance of Christ 
into the most holy place, even heaven itself. Luke 
gives a description of his ascension in these words: 
"And it came to pass while he blessed them, he 
parted from them and was carried up into heaven. " 
The same writer, in the first chapter of the Acts of 
the Apostles, said : "And when Le had said these 
things, as they were looking, he was taken up ; and a 
cloud received him out of their sight. And while 
they were looking steadfastly into heaven as he 
went, behold, two men stood by them in white ap- 
parel ; who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand 
ye looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was re- 
ceived up from you into heaven, shall so come 
in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven." 
The description is minute, circumstantial and par- 
ticular. All this was in perfect harmony with what 
Christ had told his disciples before he left the earth. 
He said : "Neverthless I tell you the truth. It is 
expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not 
away the Comforter will not come unto you, but if 
I go I will send him unto you." Also: "In my 
Father's house are many mansions ; if it were not 
so, I would have told you ; for I go to prepare a 
place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, 
I come again and will receive you unto myself, that 
where I am, there ye may be also." As we have 



13 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

seen in one of the quotations, the angels that ap- 
peared to the disciples while gazing up into heaven 
at the ascending Lord, said, "He will come in like 
manner as ye see him go,'' thus corroborating the 
statement of Christ, that he will come again, and 
receive his disciples unto himself. Paul, in writing 
to the Romans, bears testimony to the ascended Lord 
in these words: "Who is he that condemneth? It 
is Christ Jesus that died, yea, rather, that was risen 
from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who 
also maketh intercession for us." This teaches that 
among the functions that Christ is now performing 
for us, as he sits on his throne, is that of interces- 
sion. In writing to the Ephesians Paul referred to 
the ascension in these words : "Wherefore he saith, 
when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, 
and gave gifts unto men." This is a quotation from 
a passage in the 68th Psalm, prophetic of Christ's 
ascension. Peter bears this testimony upon the 
question : "Who is on the right hand of God, having 
gone into heaven ; angels and authorities and powers 
being made subject unto him." This not only 
teaches Christ's ascension and entrance into heaven, 
but asserts the supremacy that he there enjoys. This 
drops into line with Christ's own statement when he 
declared, "All authority hath been given unto me in 
heaven and on earth." The entrance of Christ into 
heaven was foretold in the 24th Psalm in this most 
picturesque and beautiful language : 

"Lift up your heads, O ye gates, 
And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, 
And the King of glory will come in. 
Who is the King of glory? 
Jehovah, strong and mighty, 
Jehovah mighty in battle. 
Lift up your heads, O ye gates, 



THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS ITEMIZED 17 

Yea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors : 

Yea, lift them up ye everlasting doors : 

And the King of glory will come in. 

Who is the King of glory? 

Jehovah of hosts, 

He is the King of glory.'' 

The ascension and entrance of Jesus into heaven, 
therefore, stands substantiated. First, by type when 
the high priest entered into the most holy place; 
second, by prophecy; third, by the testimony of 
Luke ; fourth, by the testimony of Paul ; fifth, by the 
testimony of Peter; all falling into harmony with 
Christ's own teaching on the subject. 

In conclusion it may be well to enumerate the 
items entering into the "Mystery of Godliness" : 

(1) The incarnation, or the manifesting of God 
in human flesh ; involving a stupendous miracle. 

(2) Justified in the Spirit; all the miraculous 
works of Christ being wrought through the agency 
of .the Spirit. 

(3) Seen of angels ; everything connected with 
the scheme of human redemption being of interest 
to the angels. 

(4) Preached unto the Gentiles ; the saving of 
men by the simplicity of the gospel message being 
a matter wrought out through the divine wisdom and 
not through human wisdom. 

(5) Believed on in the world; the redemption 
of man being accomplished through the operation of 
the principle of faith, which is an affectionate trust 
in a person who died and lives again. 

(6) Received up into glory ; the great prepara- 
tion for the promulgation of the gospel message 
ending in a stupendous miracle. Indeed, great is the 
mystery of godliness. 



CHAPTER II. 
The Resurrection of Christ. 

Text. — Psa. 16 19, 10 : "Therefore my heart is glad, and 
my glory rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou 
wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine 
Holy One to see corruption." This is a prophecy of the resurrec- 
tion of Christ. 

Jesus foretold his own resurrection: 

Matt. 20 : 18, 19 : "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem ; and the 
Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto 
the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall 
deliver him to the Gentiles, to mock, and to scourge, and to 
crucify him; and the third day he shall rise again." 

Acts 26 : C : "Why shculd it be thought a thing incredible 
with you, that God should raise the dead?" 

The question of immortality is one of deep in- 
terest and transcendent importance. The soul is 
thrilled with the thought of a life beyond the grave. 
Our friends have gone ; are they living yet, or is 
death an eternal sleep? No question of like im- 
portance is ever considered. Eternal consequences 
hang upon the issue. Answer it in the affirmative 
and you open up to man the boundless possibilities 
of eternity. Answer it in the negative and man 
sinks, so far as destiny is concerned, to a level with 
the brute. 

Surely in a matter of such stupendous importance 
the heavenly Father has not left us in ignorance. 
Surely the deepest question of the soul has not 

18 



BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY UNIVERSAL 19 

been left unanswered. Surely this most insistent 
cry of the universal heart has not been disregarded. 

I. Let us first consider some arguments for im- 
mortality lying outside of the proofs for the doctrine 
furnished in the Word of God. 

1. It may be said that a belief in immortality 
amounts to a universal instinct. Forty centuries 
ago the Egyptians believed in it. All the great re- 
ligions have taught it in some form. It seems to 
be a concomitant of the religion instinct. Such has 
been the faith of savage tribes in every part of the 
glebe. The Indian buries implements with the body, 
which fact points to a belief in a future life. The 
ancient Persians believed in the resurrection of the 
body. This may have come by tradition, or it may 
have been instinctive. 

The Jews certainly believed in it. The seven 
sons put to death, referred to in II. Maccabees, com- 
forted themselves in the hope of resurrection. Sad- 
ducees and Pharisees were opposing sects, differing 
largely on this question. 

Greek and Latin philosophers taught it ; Socrates, 
Pythagoras, Plato, Zeno, Virgil and the Latin teach- 
ers generally. True, the teaching was indefinite and 
shadowy, accompanied by an "if," but the longing 
was expressed in an unmistakable way ; this is the 
significant fact. It may, therefore, be regarded either 
as growing out of the religious propensity, or as a 
sort of constitutional accompaniment of this uni- 
versal instinct. 

In view of this I say with Paul, "Why should 
it be thought a thing incredible that God should 
raise the dead?" All other constitutional cravings 
are met and satisfied, why not this? 



20 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

2. The mystery connected with it is no argu- 
ment against it. That I live at all is just as great 
a mystery and involves as great an exercise of divine 
power. If God by his creative power, through the 
laws that he has ordained, can bring it to pass that 
we live in this present world, shall we say it lies 
beyond his power to give us a life in a world that 
lies beyond? The mystery of a fact is never an 
argument against its reality, else we must needs 
deny the reality of everything in nature, for there 
is mystery everywhere. All life is a mystery; even 
the things we profess to understand end in mystery. 
We may discover the laws of gravity, but of gravity 
per se we know nothing; we may know something 
of the laws of vegetable and animal growth, but 
we do not know what the life principle is through 
which growth is made possible. 

3. We do not attain full stature here. Our fac- 
ulties point to a larger scope. A future life is de- 
manded by the capacities of the soul. No one ever 
consciously reaches the limits of his possibilities. 
There is always a feeling that there are larger at- 
tainments that may be reached. Certainly this is 
true in the intellectual and spiritual realms. If 
human existence were limited to this world, surely 
some would have been found who had consciously 
attained the limit of growth. 

4. Many are cut off at the very time they are ready 
to live to most account. This is an unaccountable 
thing, if there is no life beyond. Even those who 
reach their four-score years have but a brief time 
in which to exercise their God-given powers, and a 
large part of this brief span of life is consumed in 
the developing of the powers of body and soul — in 



AN ARGUMENT FOR IMMORTALITY 21 

short, in getting ready to live. Strangest of all, mul- 
titudes are cut off in the midst, or at the end, of the 
preparation period before the time of service has 
commenced. This can only be explained on the 
theory of a future life. 

5. Extinction of being is unthinkable. We can 
think our body away, but not our soul. That is a 
psychological impossibility. Here is, indeed, a 
strange thing; if extinction of being awaits every 
man, surely in the event of such an issue the mind 
of man would be able to grasp the fact, however 
unwelcome it might be. Nay, rather, would not 
God have so constituted the human mind that it 
could contemplate the idea of extinction with 
equanimity? 

Our heavenly Father, in order that we might 
have a certainty, in a matter of so much importance, 
has given us a demonstration. Before the time of 
Christ, men were left to the deductions of reason. 
They reached a high degree of probability, but could 
not arrive at certainty. All that can be said amounts 
to nothing more than a probability, unless we have a 
positive demonstration. This demonstration is found 
in the resurrection of Christ. 

II. Let us then consider the proofs of the resur- 
rection of Christ. 

Did Christ rise from the dead? On the answer 
to this question hangs the destiny of Christianity and 
the hopes of mankind. 

1. The points not disputed should be enumer- 
ated.* (1) There was such a person as Jesus of 



* Gospel Preacher (Franklin), pp. 15-25. 
(3) 



22 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

Nazareth. (2) He lived at the time ascribed to him 
in the New Testament. (3) He was put to death 
under Pontius Pilate by crucifixion. (4) The body 
was laid in the tomb of Joseph of x\rimathea. (5) A 
large stone was rolled to the door of the sepulchre 
and a Roman guard was stationed (consisting, prob- 
ably, of sixty men). (6) Upon the morning of the 
third day his body was missing from the tomb. 

These facts were not disputed at the time of 
their occurrence, by either friends or foes, and they 
furnish the starting-place for this investigation. 

2. There are but three possible explanations that 
will account for the missing body. First, that the 
friends of Jesus stole the body. Tins explanation 
was offered by Christ's enemies at the time. It is 
either true or it is the most plausible one that could 
be invented. If this explanation be true, the foun- 
dations are swept from under Christianity. Paul 
says, "If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching 
vain, and your faith is also vain. Ye are yet in 
your sins. ,, The enemies of Christianity could have 
attacked the system at no more vital point. Right 
in the beginning, therefore, the issue was joined that- 
meant life or de^th to Christianity. The apostles of 
our Lord well understood this, and consequently in 
their preaching they made this the most prominent 
item. Those to-day who are ready to surrender this 
doctrine, are opening a breach in the wall for the 
enemies of our faith to enter. If this doctrine is 
ever surrendered, Christianity will have been wounded 
to her death ; but, please God, this will never be. 

The second possible explanation is, that the 
enemies of Jesus stole the body. This theory was 
put forth in later times by the enemies of Christ. 



ENEMIES DID NOT STEAL CHRIST'S BODY 23 

In itself it stands as a confession that the first theory- 
is untenable. 

The third and only possible explanation, aside 
from the foregoing, is that Christ rose from the dead. 
This theory was put forth immediately after the body- 
was missing, and has been maintained until the 
present hour. Let us consider these theories in 
turn. 

(1) Did the enemies steal the body? 

Men, when they perform a given act, are sup- 
posed to have a motive. Could the enemies have 
had any motive in stealing the body? On the con- 
trary, was it not to their highest interests to see 
that the body was not stolen? This is almost con- 
clusive in itself. The enemies had a very strong 
motive for guarding the body to keep it from being 
stolen, which they attempted to do, but none what- 
ever for stealing it. 

Furthermore, if the enemies had stolen the body, 
when Christ's friends put forth the claim that he 
had risen from the dead, which they did with great 
boldness, they would have convicted them of false- 
hood by producing the body. The enemies, doubt- 
less, would have given much to have been able to 
produce the body. 

Moreover, if the enemies had stolen the body, 
Christ's disciples would not have dared to promul- 
gate the doctrine of the resurrection. They would 
have had no evidence of the resurrection, and would 
have evidently expected the body to be produced at 
any moment. 

This theory is seen at once to be impossible, and 
hence the one advanced at the time by the enemies 
was the most plausible one that could be offered. 



24 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

(2) Did Christ's friends steal the body? This 
theory fails : 

First: Because the guards testify that the very 
thing happened that they were stationed to prevent. 
Notice they did not say, the disciples came and 
took the body by force. Such a claim would have 
been so manifestly absurd and ridiculous that it was 
not even hinted at. 

Second: Because a whole Roman guard would not 
sleep at the same time. It was death, under the 
Roman law, for a guard to go to sleep on duty. If 
these guards had slept they never would have re- 
ported it, nor would they have been protected by the 
intercession of the priests if they had allowed that 
thing to happen which the priests were most anxious 
to prevent. 

Third: Because a witness is incompetent to tes- 
tify of that which happened while he slept. If they 
were asleep, how did they know the bod)' was stolen? 
How did they know that the body did not rise? 

Fourth: Because the circumstances made the steal- 
ing impossible. It was the time of the great feast 
of the Passover. Hundreds of thousands of people 
were in the city. All the available space in near 
proximity without the walls was occupied with tents 
and booths where people were accommodated with 
lodging. It was also the time of the full moon. To 
have stolen a body from a sepulchre in close prox- 
imity to the city, under such circumstances, would 
have been impossible. 

Fifth: Because the disciples were too discour- 
aged and terrified to have attempted to steal the 
body. All had fled; Peter had denied his Lord with 
curses. True, he wept bitterly over his cowardice, 



CHRIST ROSE FROM THE DEAD 25 

but there is no .intimation that he or any of the 
disciples recovered their lost faith prior to the resur- 
rection. 

(3) There remains, then, but one other explana- 
tion for the missing body ; namely, that Christ rose 
from the dead. This was the claim of Christ's dis- 
ciples, and from this they never wavered for a mo- 
ment. They made it .the central ^fact of their 
preaching. 

3. An examination of this claim shows its im- 
pregnable character. In regard to it, but three sup- 
positions are possible : 

(1) They were deceived. They thought they 
saw Him, but did not. This supposition is untenable 
for the reason that the appearances of Christ after 
his resurrection are too numerous to admit of the 
possibility of deception. There are twelve appear- 
ances recorded. First, he appeared to the women on 
the morning of the resurrection; second, he appeared 
to the two disciples on the evening of the same day 
as they went to Emmaus ; third, he appeared to the 
ten on the same evening as they were assembled in 
Jerusalem, Thomas being absent; fourth, he appeared 
to the eleven one week later, Thomas being present; 
fifth, he appeared to several on the shore of the Sea 
of Galilee, and ate with them ; sixth, he appeared to 
the eleven on a mountain in Galilee and gave his 
commission; seventh, he appeared to above five hun- 
dred brethren at one time; eighth, he appeared to 
James alone ; ninth, he appeared to the eleven at the 
time of the ascension ; tenth, he appeared to Stephen 
at the time of his martyrdom; eleventh, he appeared 
to Saul years after; twelfth, he -appeared to John on 



26 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

the Isle of Patmos, walking amidst the golden can- 
dlesticks. 

During these appearances before his ascension, 
Jesus subjected himself to every possible test; he 
talked with his disciples, ate with them, told them 
to handle him. These disciples either saw Jesus or 
they lied. They certainly were not the victims of a 
deception. 

(2) They were dishonest and deliberately set 
about to deceive. That can not be true for many 
reasons : 

First : They had no motive for deception ; they had 
nothing to gain, but everything to lose. By prac- 
ticing such a deception their prospects were de- 
stroyed. All known motives that influence men 
would operate against a deception; loss of friends, 
loss of influence, less of liberty, loss of property, loss 
of life, loss of self-respect. Can any one imagine 
that the disciples practiced such a deception at such 
imminent peril? Men may risk everything for the 
truth, a great reality, a real and permanent good, 
but who will do it for a lie? 

Second: Their teachings were opposed to every 
form of deception and falsehood. They propagated 
the purest and best code of morals ever known. We 
must suppose them to have done this wdiile prac- 
ticing a gross deception. This is manifestly incon- 
ceivable. 

Third: They gained nothing by telling it, if true, 
except peace of mind which duty well done alone 
can give. This explains their conduct; they had a 
great truth to declare which had wrapped up in it 
the highest hopes of mankind. Conscience forbade 
them to hide it. They felt as Paul did when he 



THE DISCIPLES NOT DISHONEST 27 

said, "Woe is me if I preach not the gospel." For 
the privilege of uttering the great truth of the 
resurrection they were willing to risk life and all that 
men hold dear. 

Fourth : They began preaching at the wrong place 
to have been deceivers. Deceivers would not have 
commenced in Jerusalem ; at Jerusalem the facts oc- 
curred. There all the evidence was at hand to dis- 
prove it if it were false. It is inconceivable that 
deceivers would have chosen Jerusalem as the place 
to begin the propagation of their monstrous deception. 

Fifth : They were consistent to the end. When 
they found their story was likely to injure them, 
nay, even did subject them to the loss of all things, 
even life itself, did they ever recant? Did a single 
one ever weaken? When cast into prison for their 
testimony did they purchase liberty by retraction? 
No, never! They grew bolder and bolder. They 
declared the resurrection in the face of imprisonment 
and death. When Stephen was stoned, he lifted up 
his eyes and said, "I see heaven opened and Jesus 
standing on the right hand of God." 

(3) There remains but one other explanation; 
namely, that Jesus' disciples told the truth ; that 
Jesus rose from the dead. If that proposition is not 
proved, then it is impossible to establish any propo- 
sition by testimony. I consider the evidence abso- 
lutely overwhelming. This is why nearly all judi- 
cial minds accept *Jie doctrine. Those who are ac- 
customed to examining and weighing evidence, find 
this evidence absolutely conclusive. 

Then I close with one of my texts, "Why should 
it be thought a thing incredible with you that God 



28 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

should raise the dead?" Does it not answer the 
deepest question of your heart? 

If this proposition is established, the claims of 
Christ are fully sustained. Paul said "that he is de- 
clared to be the Son of God, with power according 
to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from 
the dead." 

Then He is our Lord and Master. To him we 
owe all allegiance. No man who accepts this doc- 
trine has any excuse for rejecting Christ. No man 
can be justified in rejecting this doctrine who has 
not given it honest, careful investigation. 

This being the great citadel of the Christian faith, 
certain obligations are laid upon the disciples of our 
Lord respecting it: 

(1)- Every Christian ought to become thoroughly 
familiar with all the facts connected with the resur- 
rection, or bearing upon it. He ought to be able to 
state the reasons for its great and fundamental im- 
portance. 

(2) He ought to be so fortified with arguments 
that he can meet the objector and silence him by 
answer of facts and of inexorable logic. Lie ought 
to be able to make the resurrection of Christ as clear 
and certain as a demonstration in mathematics. 

(3) He ought never to give aid or encourage- 
ment to professed Christians who deny the doctrine. 
To do so is to allow the enemy to encamp within 
our lines; to do so is treason to our Lord. Here no 
compromise is possible; here is a line of separation 
between the people of God and the world, w r hich no 
Christian man may ignore. 



CHAPTER III. 
The Great Commission. 

Matt. 28:18-20: "And Jesus came to them [the eleven 
disciples] and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been 
given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye, therefore, and 
make disciples of all the nations ; baptizing them into the name 
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; teaching 
them to observe all things whatsoever I command you; and lo, 
I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." 
(Marginal reading of the last clause, "The consummation of 
the age.") 

Mark 16: 15, 16: "And he said unto them, Go ye into all 
the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He that 
believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth 
shall be condemned." 

Luke 24:46, 47: "And he said unto them, Thus it is 
written, that the Christ should suffer, and rise again from the 
dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins 
should be preached in his name unto all the nations, beginning 
from Jerusalem." 

John 20:21-23: "Jesus, therefore, said to them again, Peace 
be unto you ; as the Father hath sent me even so send I you. 
And when he had said this he breathed on them, and saith unto 
them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit; whosesoever sins ye forgive, 
they are forgiven unto them; whosesoever sins ye retain, they 
are retained." 

Acts 26 : 16-18 : "But arise, and stand upon thy feet ; for to 

this end have I appeared unto thee, to appoint thee a minister, 

and a witness, both of the things wherein thou hast seen me, 

and of the things wherein I will appear unto thee, delivering 

thee from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom I send 

thee, to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to 

light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may re- 

2U 



30 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

ceive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are 
sanctified by faith in me." (Paul's commission.) 

I Cor. 15:1-8: "Now I make known unto you, brethren, 
the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received, 
wherein also ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye hold 
fast the word which I preached unto you, except ye believed in 
vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I 
received; that Christ died for our sins according to the scrip- 
tures; that he was buried and that he hath been raised on the 
third day according to the scriptures ; and that he appeared to 
Cephas, then to the twelve; then he appeared to above rive 
hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain 
until now, but some are fallen asleep; then he appeared to 
James; then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to the child 
but untimely born, he appeared to me also." (Paul's definition 
of the gospel.) 

Rom. 2:6, 7 : "But will render to every man according to 
his works; to them that by patience in well-doing seek for glory 
and honor and incorruption, eternal life." (Paul's statement of 
the final reward of the gospel.) 

The great commission set forth in the foregoing 
scriptures ranks in importance with the wonderful 
statement of God recorded in the first chapter of 
Genesis : "Let us make man ;" the latter relates to 
man's creation, the former to his redemption. If 
the making of man was a matter of great importance, 
the redemption of man is certainly no less so. For 
the announcement of the great commission the ages 
had unconsciously waited. Doubtless its importance, 
when uttered, was but dimly comprehended, and 
even to-day the disciples of our Lord fail to grasp 
its far-reaching significance. In it is wrapped up 
the highest good of the race for time and eternity. 
In this commission is contained not only the gracious 
purpos-es of God, but also, potentially, all benevolent 
schemes of man that can result in any permanent 



THE COMMISSION DELAYED 31 

good. That is, the carrying out of this commission 
in all of its details will result in every good that 
can possibly come to the human race. 

In studying the great commission we will con- 
sider : 

I. The time when and the place where the great 
commission was first promulgated. 

After the fall of the first Adam, millenniums rolled 
by before the commission of the second Adam went 
into effect. Some have looked upon this as an im- 
peachment of the wisdom and goodness of God; 
while others have cited it as an argument against 
the divinity of the Christian system. They say if 
Christianity is God's scheme for the salvation of 
man, why was it so long delayed? Why was sin 
allowed such a long and terrible development before 
God's remedy for sin was applied? The reasons for 
this delay are not hard to discover: 

1. Man had to learn the nature and effects of 
sin before he would desire or accept an escape from 
it. The patient must learn that he is sick before he 
is ready to accept a remedy. This necessarily re- 
quired the introduction of the time factor. It took 
ages for man to become acquainted with the awful 
effects superinduced by sin. He must live under all 
the varied conditions of human life to understand 
that the prevailing malady was universal. If it 
should appear that even one could escape, through 
favorable circumstance or condition, from the effects 
of sin, then superhuman help would not be a neces- 
sity; for what can be accomplished for one may be 
done for others. 

2. Man must try his own remedial schemes.* 

Talks to Bereans, Errett, p. 34. 



32 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

He seems to be so constituted that he will not accept 
assistance at the hands of another if help lies within 
his own reach. To learn man's impotence, there- 
fore, was a necessary lesson. Before he could learn 
this, he would naturally try such remedies as would 
seem to promise the needed relief. 

(1) Historically considered, man first sought for 
wealthy material benefits and worldly splendor as the 
highest good ; in this he sought happiness, blessed- 
ness and peace. He was restless, unhappy and felt 
the need of something to satisfy his craving, and 
thought that wealth would bring the coveted good. 
Great empires arose whose people madly followed 
after mammon as the true end of life. Wars of 
conquest were waged, that the victors might despoil 
the conquered. The material splendor of Babylon 
even yet excites the wonder of the world. But all 
this ended in failure. 

(2) Man next sought wisdom or knowledge in 
pursuit of the siimmum bonum. Philosophy was tried 
as the remedy for human misfortune. This effort 
found its highest expression in the history of ancient 
Greece. Her philosophers even yet stand as the 
peers of the wisest in all the ages, but philosophy 
failed as a savior of the race. 

(3) Man next sought the highest good in the 
development and application of legal codes. Law 
was tried as the corrective for human ills. The 
effort was made to secure perfect life through out- 
ward restraints. This, like all other attempts, ended 
in failure. It was the Roman nation that demon- 
strated the failure of human law as a regulator of 
life ; and contemporary with this effort God showed, 
in the history of the chosen people, the impossibility 



PREPARATION FOR THE COMMISSION 33 

of securing the coveted result even through divine 
law. 

These have been the prevailing lines along which 
the efforts of man have been directed for the salva- 
tion of the individual and of society, but they left 
mankind a hopeless wreck. After all human systems 
had done their best for man, and even after Judaism 
demonstrated its impotency, "There was none right- 
eous; no, not one." 

3. Certain lines of preparation had to be carried 
forward and completed before the divine plan for 
the salvation of man could be put into operation. 

(1) There must be, first of all, a spiritual prep- 
aration ; a standing-ground must be prepared for 
propagating the idea of "one true and living God" 
as opposed to the universal idolatry. This doctrine 
must be firmly planted in the hearts of a prepared 
people as a basis from which to proceed in the 
effort to transmit it to the entire human family. 
Then, too, in order to the introduction into the world 
of a new spiritual religion, a system of types and 
symbols representing the new order must be 
wrought out, which would create an expectancy of 
that which was coming, serve to identify the new 
institution when it should arrive, and give it au- 
thority. This was accomplished through the He- 
brew nation. 

(2) An intellectual preparation was also neces- 
sary for a universal religion. Grecian philosophy 
was the agent chosen for this work. While it did 
not and could not act as a savior, yet it did stimulate 
the thinking powers and furnish certain shadowy 
notions of immortality which served as a basis for 
Christian conceptions and ideas. Also, through the 



34 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

agency of the Greek nation, a universal language, the 
common Greek dialect, was developed, which served 
as an important factor in the preparation for a uni- 
versal religion. 

(3) There must also of necessity be a certain 
physical preparation for the introduction of a world- 
wide system of redemption. The embassadors of 
Christ would necessarily need protection as they 
went out under the great commission, and highways 
to the most distant provinces would be required in 
order to the successful accomplishments of their 
great mission. This physical preparation was accom- 
plished through the great Roman nation, whose great 
highways made travel, hitherto difficult or impos- 
sible, comparatively easy, and whose protection, 
thrown around her citizens even unto the ends of 
the world, was of inestimable value to the heralds 
of the cross.* 

4. Certain facts, necessary to the redemption of 
the race, had to be accomplished. Whether we 
understand the philosophy of the vicarious atone- 
ment or not, is not important. It is important, how- 
ever, to know that the scriptures of the Old and 
New Testaments clearly teach the doctrine, and 
since the blood of animals could not atone for sin, 
it was necessary to find a sacrifice that was effica- 
cious. God provided such an offering when he gave 
his only begotten Son, the just, to die for the unjust. 
It is evident that the facts of the gospel had to be 
accomplished before the commission could go into 
effect. We would also naturally expect that embas- 



*For fuller discussion of the lines of preparation for Christ 
see the author's work, "The Great Salvation " chapter on "The 
Fullness of Time." 



PLACE WHERE COMMISSION WAS GIVEN 35 

sadors would be selected for the task before a com- 
mission embodying a definite work would be given. 
It would be necessary for these embassadors to grasp 
at least the great fundamental principles of the new 
kingdom that they should be appointed to usher in. 
We are not surprised, therefore, that the work of 
selecting and training his apostles constituted a large 
part of the personal ministry of Christ. The com- 
mission could not be given while this was in prog- 
ress. Consequently, when the facts of the gospel 
had been accomplished and the training of the apos- 
tles completed, the commission was given and Christ 
ascended to take his seat on the mediatorial throne. 
However, he instructed his disciples to tarry in 
Jerusalem until they should be indued with power 
from on high, to enable them to accomplish their 
divinely given task. While the commission was 
given just before Christ left the earth, the execution 
did not take place until he had ascended to heaven 
and had sent forth the Holy Spirit in harmony with his 
promise. This took place on the first Pentecost after 
Christ arose from the dead. This promised power 
miraculously endowed his apostles for every task; 
it brought to their remembrance all things that Jesus 
had said unto them, which was necessary because 
full records of his teachings had not been kept in 
all probability, and it also helped them to work mir- 
acles in attestation of their superhuman mission, mes- 
sage and work. 

The place where the commission was first 
put into effect is also a matter of interest and im- 
portance. Ages before, the prophet had said that 
the law should go forth from Zion, and the Word of 
the Lord from Jerusalem. God's law went forth 



36 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

from Sinai, but this was confined to a single nation.: 
The law for all nations was to go forth from Jeru- 
salem. Consequently the disciples waited in accord- 
ance with the instructions of Jesus for the promised 
power, and it was in Jerusalem that their message 
of salvation was first uttered, immediately after the 
power was received. This fact shows forth in a 
striking way the divine wisdom. Jerusalem was the 
place where Christ had suffered. Jerusalem was the 
place where his enemies were strongest. Jerusalem 
was the place where fraud would have been most 
easily detected. Jerusalem was the last place that 
impostors would have chosen to begin their work. 
Beginning at Jerusalem is a strong testimony as to 
the truthfulness of the facts, and as to the honesty 
and sincerity of the apostles ; such indeed as could 
have been given in no other way. Truth is always 
and everywhere absolutely fearless. It never hides 
in a corner. It never is afraid of honest investiga- 
tion. Its challenge is: "Prove all things; hold fast 
that which is good." Beginning at Jerusalem stamps 
the apostles with the label of honesty, and Chris- 
tianity with the label of truth. 

We will next consider: 

II. The importance of the great commission, as 
s**own by certain impressive facts. 

1. The importance of a system sometimes de- 
pends in no small degree upon the personality of its 
author. What the author is, is sometimes of greater 
importance than what the author says. The im- 
portance of the personality of the author is deter- 
mined by the character of his message. A bad man 
may utter truth of a certain kind that will not be 
affected by the fact of his personality. This is true 



THE IMPORTANCE OF THE COMMISSION 37 

of philosophic truth generally. What a philosopher 
says is the important thing; not what he is. But 
when truth emanates from a great person, that fact 
invests it with peculiar interest, and the greater the 
author the greater the interest aroused. From great 
minds, men expect great things. There are, more- 
over, certain forms of truth that demand that the 
author shall be more than human ; truth that is en- 
tirely outside of human experience and observation; 
truth that deals with the infinite and eternal ; truth 
that only a superhuman being can know, demands a 
superhuman messenger if he profess to speak out of 
his own knowledge. The author of the great com- 
mission made the highest possible claim as to his 
personality. He claimed to be equal with God, to 
have come forth from God, to have the powers that 
belong to God ; and he wrought miracles in attesta- 
tion to those claims. The miracles, when classified, 
show that Jesus Christ possessed every power that 
we can conceive of as properly belonging to God. 
He spoke with a dogmatic assurance only permissible 
in God. He spoke things out of his own knowledge 
that only God can know; he exercised prerogatives, 
as, for instance, the forgiveness of sin, that belong 
only to God. Consequently the sentence introduc- 
tory to the commission is a most natural thing, and 
harmonious in place and character. It is just what 
we would expect under all the circumstances. "All 
authority in heaven and on earth hath been given 
unto me." Then he is divine. Would God give 
all authority in heaven and earth into the hands of a 
fallible man? Reason revolts at the suggestion. 

Christ makes his divine personality the bedrock 
of his church or kingdom. He says, "On this rock" 

(4) 



38 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

— that does not mean on the statement of a truth, but 
on his divine person — "I will build my church." 
This fact gives to Christianity an entirely unique 
and distinctive character. It is the only institution 
ever founded on a person. 

2. The importance of a system is also shown 
by the beneficence and scope of its purpose. (1) The 
gospel of Jesus Christ proposes to cure all the ills 
that afflict the human race. It seeks to do this by 
striking at the root of all evil ; namely, sin. Sin 
is the fruitful cause of all evil, physical, social and 
political; and to abolish sin would be to abolish 
everything that curses mankind. The entrance of 
sin into the world brought with it the long train of 
evils that have continued to afflict our common hu- 
manity, from the beginning down to the present 
hour : "Sin entered the world and death by sin, and 
so death hath passed upon all men, for that all have 
sinned." It is the purpose of Christianity to abolish 
sin by removing from man the love of sin, by curing 
him of the practice of sin, and by relieving him from 
the guilt of sin. When some philanthropist or re- 
former has undertaken to cure some one great evil, 
such, for instance, as slavery or intemperance, or to 
relieve the world from the ravages of some great 
disease such as the white plague or diphtheria or 
yellow fever, or to institute some particular reform 
such as prison reform, or the abolishment of child 
labor from factories and mines, we honor him and 
call him great. General Booth is regarded as one 
of the world's great, practical reformers, because he 
undertook to lift up what he called the submerged 
tenth of the population of London. How all human 
schemes for the amelioration of human life dwindle 



THE PURPOSE OF THE COMMISSION 39 

into insignificance when compared with the stupendous 
purpose of Christianity. (2) But not only does Chris- 
tianity propose to abolish all evil, but it proposes to 
supply every needed want of mankind. It vacates 
no field. It says, I have much to do for the bodies 
of men. It seeks to cure the sick, feed the hungry 
and clothe the naked. It says, I have a mission to 
perform for the intellects of men ! It has given us a 
new education by revealing to us the true unit of 
human greatness, the individual man, apart from the 
accidents of wealth or wisdom or power; by giving 
us the true analysis of man, and providing for the 
education or development of all the factors that 
enter into his complex being; by revealing to us 
the true purpose of education, which is service for 
mankind, rather than individual aggrandizement. It 
says, I have a mission to perform for the spiritual 
nature of man ! It regards him not simply as a 
thinking animal, but a worshiping being. Recog- 
nizing the religious nature, it seeks to make proper 
provision for its growth and development by reveal- 
ing the true object of worship — the one true and 
living God. This is done by bringing God down 
upon the plane of human life and action, and pre- 
senting him in concrete form, in the person of Jesus 
Christ. 

When we consider the scope of the Christian pur- 
pose, we feel that the value of the system reaches 
far beyond the grasp of the. human mind. 

3. The importance of a system is also shown by 
the duration of the blessings it bestows. The ben- 
efits of all human systems are limited to time. Man 
is viewed as a citizen of this world only. Mr. Inger- 
soll said, "One world at a time !" This was a very 



40 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

logical statement from his standpoint. Man, unaided, 
by divine revelation, can only see one world, and all 
human systems must be confined in their purpose 
and benefits to this world. But it is very different 
with Christianity. It contemplates man as a citi- 
zen of two worlds, and consequently takes into the 
account the life that now is and the life that is to 
come. Its blessings cover the whole field of the 
present life, and stretch out to an infinite life that 
lies beyond. All human systems part company with 
a man when he drops into the grave. They say, 
"There is nothing more that I can do for him ;" but 
Christianity proposes to accompany him through the 
dark portal cf death and give to him an infinite life 
of blessedness and peace. It makes the present life 
merely a preparation for the life beyond, and ad- 
monishes us to live this life under the power and 
influence of the world to come. This fact gives to 
Christianity an importance infinitely greater than 
that which attaches to the most beneficent human 
system. 

III. The character and contents cf the great 
commission next demand attention. 

What was involved in the commission which our 
Lord gave to his apostles? In what did their work 
consist? To use a general term, they were sent out 
to preach the gospel. But the question arises, What 
is involved in preaching the gospel? What is the 
message that they were commissioned to declare? 
It may be helpful at this point to give a summary 
of the points involved in the great commission as 
stated in the Scriptures above quoted. Briefly the 
•items are as follows: (1) The universal authority 
.of Christ — that is, authority in heaven and in earth — 



THE COMMISSION SUMMARIZED 41 

as the basis of this commission. This authority was 
inherent, hence Christ was divine. (2) The world- 
wide purpose of the gospel. (3) The duty of those 
entrusted with the commission to go unto all the 
nations with the message. (4) The message to be 
taught is called the gospel, which means good news 
or glad tidings. (5) The gospel consists of certain 
things to be believed. (6) These facts had been 
properly and amply attested. (7) Those who believe 
or have been taught are required to repent. (8) 
Those who believe and repent are also required to 
be baptized. (9) The remission of sins is promised 
to those who obey the requirements. (10) Remis- 
sion of sins and salvation are used as equivalent 
terms. (11) Baptism is commanded in the name or 
by the authority of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 
(12) The gift of the Holy Spirit is promised to 
those who believe and obey. 

1. We notice in this summary that there are 
certain facts to be believed ; the apostle Paul gives 
us the facts embraced in what he terms the gospel. 
We see that they are few and simple. He declares 
them to be: (1) The death of Jesus Christ for our 
sins, according to the Scriptures ; that is, the Old 
Testament Scriptures. Bearing in mind that the 
word "gospel" literally means good news or glad 
tidings, we see that the clause "for our sins" is a 
very necessary part of the statement. The death of 
Christ alone would not be good news, but when 
coupled with the statement "for our sins" it becomes 
at once glad tidings. It points to a release from the 
guilt of sin through a sacrifice that was efficacious. 
(2) The burial and resurrection of Christ. Here 
again two clauses must be taken in conjunction in 



42 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

order to constitute gospel or good news. The burial 
of Christ alone would not be good news, but when 
coupled with the statement that he arose again the 
third day, it becomes glad tidings. It points to the 
fact of a life beyond the grave, and consequently it 
is said that Jesus brought life and immortality to 
light. No messenger had ever arrived from that un- 
discovered country. Men yearned for something 
definite concerning a life beyond. Jesus had spoken 
most positive words of assurance on the subject, but 
his actual return after passing through the gates of 
death was a practical demonstration of the fact of 
immortality that he so confidently stated. 

2. The gospel also consists of certain commands 
to be obeyed. The statement of the commission in 
the Scriptures above quoted show that these com- 
mands are three in number. (1) After preaching the 
facts just stated, Jesus commanded his disciples to 
require first of all faith in the message that they 
delivered. This involved faith in a divine person. 
When Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of 
the living God/' in answer to the question of Christ, 
"Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?" 
Jesus replied, "Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jonah, 
for flesh and blood have not revealed this unto 
thee, but my Father who is in heaven, and I say unto 
thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will 
build my church." Therefore, the faith commanded 
is the faith in Jesus as a divine person. This faith 
places the individual upon the true and sure founda- 
tion, which Paul declared to be the only foundation, 
in these words, "For other foundation can no man 
lay than that which hath been laid, which is Jesus 
Christ. " But this faith also involved faith in the 



COMMANDS TO BE OBEYED 43 

work that this divine person accomplished; namely, 
his death for our sins and his burial and resurrec- 
tion. (2) We see also that repentance was en- 
joined, which logically follows faith. Faith in 
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is 
not only calculated to produce sorrow for sin, but 
to lead man to change his mind with respect to a 
life of sin, in order that he may lead a life of right- 
eousness. If man is not made sorry for sin and led 
to change his mind with respect to sin, and resolve 
to live a life of righteousness, by the preaching of 
the fact that Jesus Christ died for our sins, there is 
no message that can be delivered to man that will 
produce this result. (3) We also see that baptism 
is a command involved in the preaching of the gos- 
pel. This is declared to be for, or in order to, the 
remission of sins ; this does not mean that the in- 
dividual is literally cleansed from sin by the waters 
ol baptism, but it is rather a condition stated, 
upon which God promises to forgive. It is positive 
in its nature. There is no reason discoverable for 
obeying it other than the command of our Saviour; 
it is, therefore, a test of loyalty. If baptism were 
moral in its nature — that is, if it were a thing right 
in itself — it would not be a test of loyalty. But if 
man can not discover in baptism any moral quality, 
then the reason for his obedience must lie in his 
recognition of the authority of the one commanding 
it, and his disposition to yield obedience to that 
authority. We can, therefore, see how God can make 
this a condition of pardon. A man who is so loyal 
to Christ that he will obey his command even though 
he can see no reason for it other than his authority, 
shows that he is in a position to be received into 



44 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

the family of God. Baptism has been appointed by 
God as the act or ceremony whereby he is formally 
born into the family, and thus receives the pardon 
of God. 

3. The preaching of the gospel also requires the 
declaration, or promise, of certain blessings to be 
enjoyed. (1) The first blessing has already been 
referred to ; namely, the forgiveness of sins, and no 
greater blessing is conceivable. Until a man knows 
that he is pardoned it is not possible for him to 
have peace with God, which is the basis of hap- 
piness. (2) The gift of the Holy Spirit is also prom- 
ised, which is set forth in the Scriptures as the 
crowning blessing; in fact, that to which the whole 
Christian system leads. It is the marrying of the 
human and the divine. It is the coming of the Holy 
Spirit into the heart of the man, as a comforter and 
as a strengthening agent. Man is thus made par- 
taker of the divine nature. This is the climax and 
end of creation. It is in the new creation that the 
great purpose of God is realized. It is in the second 
Adam and not in the first that man stands complete. 

(3) Through the gift and power of the Holy Spirit 
man is enabled to lead the life of righteousness and 
thus become a blessing to himself, and a blessing to 
the wx>rld in which he lives. Christian life is one 
of the highest blessings that Christianity confers. 

(4) But not only do the blessings of Christianity 
cover the life that now is, but they extend into, and 
are commensurate with, the life that is to come. The. 
immediate fellowship with God and Christ and un- 
fallen spirits, and with the good and great of all 
time through the ceaseless ages of eternity, is con- 



PERSONS ADDRESSED IN THE COMMISSION 45 

templated as the final blessing to be proclaimed in 
the gospel of Christ. 

Summing this branch of the subject up, we may 
say that the substance of the great commission con- 
sists in certain facts to be believed, in certain com- 
mands to be obeyed and in certain blessings to be 
enjoyed. 

IV. The persons responsible for the execution 
of the great commission is a matter that should not 
be overlooked. 

1. The commission was originally given to the 
eleven apostles. The record by Matthew is as fol- 
lows : "But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, 
into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 
But when they saw him they worshipped him ; but 
some doubted. And Jesus came to them and spake 
unto them, saying:" Here follows the commission. 
Mark says : "And afterward he was manifested unto 
the eleven themselves as they sat at meat; and he 
upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness 
of heart because they believed not them that had 
seen him after he had arisen. And he said unto 
them:" Here follows Mark's statement of commis- 
sion. This is sufficient to show clearly that the com- 
mission when uttered by our Lord was given to the 
eleven. Some years later when, according to the 
divine purpose, Saul of Tarsus was added to the list 
of the apostles, Jesus appeared unto him and gave 
him the same commission as recorded above. In 
order to demonstrate the divine mission of the apos- 
tles and enable them to establish his church, through 
the preaching authorized by the commission, mirac- 
ulous power was conferred upon them. That this 
preaching of the commission was also done by others 



46 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

in the apostolic day is clear from the record given 
us in the Acts of the Apostles, and upon some of 
these at least miraculous power was conferred, since 
they would need the same vindication and power, in 
the initiative stage of the work, that was given to 
the apostles. This divine power continued until the 
divinity of the apostolical message, that is, of the 
commission, had been demonstrated, and the king- 
dom securely planted. It ceased with the apostles 
and their cotemporaries. 

2. The proclamation of the commission belongs 
to the disciples of the Master in all ages, for he 
said: "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end 
of the world." The miraculous power does not con- 
tinue, or is not given to the preachers of the gospel 
now, because it is not needed. The divinity of the 
message is already established. The divine wit- 
ness in the working of miracles and signs has been 
borne, and when once the testimony has gone on 
record it is* not necessary to call up the original wit- 
ness every time the gospel message is declared. 
Further, the extending of the kingdom can be ac- 
complished, when once it has been planted, through 
ordinary means and channels. But the preaching of 
the facts embraced in the commission is a universal 
duty. All may not be called upon to proclaim the 
message publicly, but all can do it, and are called 
upon to do it, in private, indirectly in Christian living, 
and in support of those who give their time to its 
public proclamation. This is the fundamental duty 
of the Christian man ; everything else he does is sec- 
ondary and subordinate to this great work. This is 
the thing that should occupy his thought constantly. 
If he gives himself to other work, it is in order that 



THE CHRISTIAN'S GREAT WORK 47 

he may thereby be enabled to do the great work laid 
upon him by the head of the church. The Chris- 
tian man who allows his business to interfere with 
the work of carrying out the commission has ceased 
to be a Christian man in the true sense of the word. 
It is the business of the local church, in its last 
analysis, to carry out the commission. Local work 
is incidental to and for the sake of the broad work, 
that of carrying the gospel to the ends of the earth. 
Church officers who study only the work that is 
purely local, have failed to understand their primary 
obligation. No man who is called into God's king- 
dom can shift the responsibility of assisting to carry 
out the commission of the Lord. Christian men are 
saved not only for their own sakes, but for the 
world's sake. When people make their own per- 
sonal salvation the matter of highest concern, they 
have failed to grasp the divine purpose in their call- 
ing and election, and they have entirely missed the 
altruistic spirit of Christianity. 

V. The method or methods of executing the 
great commission should not escape our attention. 

1. We are told that: "It pleased God by the 
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." 
God in his wisdom has chosen to spread his kingdom 
throughout the earth by the proclamation of the 
message of salvation; that is, through the speaking 
of living men to living men. Let no one imagine 
that modern conditions and inventions have rendered 
the public proclamation of the gospel of less impor- 
tance. Let no one think that anything can ever take 
the place of the original method. The personality 
of the preacher has much to do with his message, 
and this personality is manifested with greatest 



48 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

power when the preacher stands before his audience 
and speaks forth the message. There is something 
in the manner, gesture, flash of the eye, intonation 
of voice, in short, the idiosyncrasies of the speaker, 
that sends the message home in a way that the 
printed page can not do. The public promulgation 
of the gospel by word of mouth will be the abiding 
method for the preaching of the gospel to the end 
of time. 

2. But there are certain agencies that may be 
called into use that may greatly assist in the 
preaching of the Word. (1) The printing-press, by 
the printing of books, circulars, magazines and 
.papers, renders valuable assistance in carrying 
out the commission of the Lord. While this can 
not take the place of the verbal proclamation of the 
gospel, it can render assistance that should not be* 
despised. Occasionally, men are converted by read- 
ing the gospel message, but if we were to rely upon 
this agency alone, we would doubtless find that the 
progress of the gospel would be very soon arrested. 
It is also true that the. gospel messengers may be 
greatly helped by books and periodicals, both in 
their personal qualifications and in their delivery of 
their message. All things considered, both direct and 
indirect benefits, the printing-press is indeed a mighty 
factor in this day and age in accomplishing the work 
laid upon us by the Master. Let us use it wisely 
and diligently, but do not let us imagine that the 
press can supplant, or make less important, the oral 
preaching of the Word. (2) The principle of co- 
operation is also valuable as a method of work; all 
can not go out as missionaries, either in the home or 
foreign field. Few men have the ability to support a 



CO-OPERATION AND ORGANIZATION NECESSARY 49 

man for the work. Few churches, even, are able to 
support a missionary. Common sense demands that a 
way should be found for individuals and churches to 
co-operate together, and thus accomplish what single 
individuals and churches can not do. To say that 
we have no Scripture warrant for co-operation beyond 
that of members of the individual church, in the first 
place, is not true, for Paul himself acted as an 
agent in securing the co-operation of churches in a 
common work. In the second place, it shows a mis- 
conception of the genius and spirit of Christianity in 
that it demands a specific rule for the doing of 
everything connected with Christian life and work. 
It brings Christianity on a level with Judaism, 
making it a rigid system of law. In the third place, 
it is an impeachment of good common sense. Jesus 
said, "Go preach the gospel to every creature. " He 
laid the obligation upon every Christian. But he 
did not specify the methods through which they 
should co-operate in carrying out the message. Fail- 
ure in co-operation would mean failure to do the 
work enjoined. Organization is necessary, in order 
to large co-operation. The Master left his disciples 
to adjust their methods of doing the work to the 
ever-changing human conditions. As conditions 
change, old methods should be modified, and new 
methods will be introduced. The general principles 
of co-operation must be conserved, in order to the 
carrying of the gospel to the whole creation. 

VI. I desire for the sake of emphasis to specific- 
ally mention a work that is fundamental to the execu- 
tion of the great commission. 

1. As a matter of fact, the preparation of men is 
a fundamental necessity, in order to obey the com- 



50 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

mand of the Lord to preach the gospel to the whole 
world. Jesus teaches us this lesson by carefully 
training his apostles for their work before he gave 
them his commission. Paul took pains to prepare 
certain ones for the work of the ministry by asso- 
ciating them with himself in a great work. The 
training of man is a logical necessity, for man can 
not go and do successful work without the proper 
training, and churches can not send preachers and 
evangelists until they are prepared to go. There- 
fore, back of organization and co-operation lies the 
matter of preparation which has largely been over- 
looked ; or, if not, it has been left to take care of 
itself. No systematic, organized work has been done 
by the church as such in the way of the preparation of 
men. The question is seldom mentioned in the pul- 
pit, preachers have felt no obligation in the direction 
of securing an adequate trained ministry. They have 
understood it to be their duty to preach the gospel 
in order to bring men into the church, and, in a 
general way, to look after the spiritual interests of 
the churches to which they have been called to 
minister. But to feel any responsibility for the train- 
ing of an adequate ministerial force has not been 
true of the "average preacher of the gospel. 

2. If the training of men is the logical beginning- 
place for the carrying out of the commission, the 
founding of schools and colleges is an important 
work that is laid upon the children of God. There 
never has been any agency to prepare man for the 
work of the ministry other than the college or uni- 
versity. It is safe to say that no way will ever be 
found other than this. As education becomes gen- 
eral among the masses, and educational standards 



THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL NECESSARY 51 

advance, it makes it necessary that the preacher of 
the gospel should keep pace with these advancing 
standards. A man utterly deficient in literary cul- 
ture can not exert a very powerful influence over 
educated people. The education of the ministry has 
been, therefore, a growing work, both in character 
and scope. The college curriculum has been greatly 
broadened, necessarily so ; this demands more men 
for teachers and more appliances of all kinds. All 
this increases the obligation to provide institutions 
of learning of such character as to meet the ever- 
increasing demands in this age of higher education. 
Here is a duty that has been largely overlooked by 
the masses of Christian people. Few have felt any 
personal obligation in ' the matter of supporting 
schools and universities. Few have made any sac- 
rifice to that end. Has not the day come when there 
should be an awakening all along the line on this 
subject? Is it not time for every Christian to be 
made to feel that the duty of supporting colleges is a 
universal one? Is it not high time that the preachers 
of the Word should feel that they have been neg- 
lecting a vital, essential, fundamental matter, and 
that they should address themselves to this task for 
enlisting and preparing an adequate ministerial force 
as they have never done before? Let us then recog- 
nize the fact that co-operation in preparing men is 
just as essential as co-operation in sending men to 
do the work. 



CHAPTER IV. 
Conversion.* 

Acts 3 : 19 : "Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your 
sins may be blotted out, when the time of refreshing shall come 
from the presence of the Lord." 

1. No event in all the history of the world is 
comparable in grandeur and importance to the intro- 
duction of the religion of Christ into the world. 
Nations have risen and fallen, empires and kingdoms 
have come and gone, great religions have been estab- 
lished and have passed away, but no achievement of 
man in government or religion, or in any other field 
of thought or action, bears any resemblance or holds 
any comparison to this stupendous event. The one 
denying the divinity of the Christian system has a 
hard task on his hands to account for the facts of 
Christianity as confirmed by the overwhelming testi- 
mony of friends and foes. The essential facts are not 
only substantiated by the testimony of all history, but 
are uncontradicted by any authority at the time and 
place of its introduction. Here stands forth the greatest 
miracle of the ages, resting not on divine authority 
alon , but on history. Tell us how a poor carpenter, 
without prestige or influence, could have accomplished 
what history shows was achieved immediately upon the 



* For some of the matter in this chapter, and especially some 
of its illustrations, I am indebted to a sermon on conversion in 
'The Gospel Preacher" by Franklin. 
52 



THE EARLY SUCCESS OF CHRISTIANITY 53 

introduction of Christianity into the world. His apos- 
tles were men of lowly station. They stood up 
in Jerusalem, the center of Jewish life. They acted 
contrary to the Sanhedrin. They moved in opposition 
to paganism. Its wealth, power and influence were 
arrayed against them; yet in a few days after their 
leader had died an ignominious death they induced 
three thousand men to believe that God had raised 
that leader from the dead, and on another occasion, 
a short time after, they induced two thousand more to 
believe. Could such a thing be done now by twelve 
impostors? How did they soon after extend the gospel 
to Samaria, and in ten years to the Gentiles, and in 
forty years to the whole world? Here is a miracle of 
the most stupendous kind, yet infidelity asks you to 
believe a few ignorant men did it. 

2. The manner in which this stupendous success 
was obtained is no less wonderful than the achievement 
itself. It was done, not by pandering to the pride jr 
customs of the world ; not by sympathizing with other 
systems; Judaism was set aside and paganism was held 
up as an abomination. The apostles included the 
whole world under sin, and taught that there was no 
name given under heaven or among men whereby men 
could be saved but the name of Jesus. He who can 
believe that twelve humble men could accomplish such 
results by such means, need not talk of the credulity 
of Christians. The history of the world does not 
furnish a parallel. 

3. I hasten now to the case referred to in this 

text: Peter and John were going up into the temple. 

Two causes moved them ; the natural desire to tell 

good news, and their divine commission said, "Go ye 

into all the world and preach the gospel to every 
(5) 



54 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

creature/' When passing the "Beautiful" gate, they 
were greeted with the importunities of a beggar, lame 
from his birth. Peter said, "Silver and gold have I 
none, but such as I have give I thee. In the name 
of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." This miracle 
served a double purpose : it attracted the people, and 
proved the divine power of Peter and John. A crowd 
gathered and Peter preached, winding up with the 
words, "Repent ye, therefore, and turn again that your 
sins may be blotted out." 

I. I desire first to examine the meaning of the 
Greek word "strepho," rendered "convert" in the old 
version. 

1. The New Testament use of the word strepho 
is very different from the popular conception which 
makes the individual passive in conversion— in fact, 
incompetent to do anything until he is acted upon by 
an immediate operation of the Holy Spirit. The orig- 
inal Greek word strepho occurs eighteen times in the 
New Testament, and is translated "turn," every time. 
This makes the turning an act of the individual, and 
hence it makes him responsible. In every instance, 
except Rev. 11:6, which speaks of turning water to 
blood, the person or thing turned itself. In other 
words, the person or thing is active and not passive 
in conversion, in the New Testament use of the Greek 
word. 

2. Let us next look at the compound form epi- 
strepho. This word occurs thirty times. The Revised 
Version translates all but two cases by the word "turn." 
These cases are found in Jas. 5 : 19, 20. "Brethren, if 
any of you do err from the truth, and one convert 
him, let him know that he which convcrtcth the sinner 
from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, 



THE MEANING OF CONVERSION 55 

and shall hide a multitude of sins." It will be seen 
that in both of these cases the word might just as well 
be translated by the word "turn." We, in short, get 
the same idea that we do from strepho, only somewhat 
strengthened by the prefix epi. 

There is nothing in the word to indicate which way 
the turning is — whether from good to bad or from bad 
to good. The word may be properly used with refer- 
ence to either kind of turning. I hold, therefore, that 
the conclusion is irresistible that "turn" is the proper 
meaning of the word, and that a converted man is 
simply a turned-around man. Epistrepho means to 
turn upon, or, in other words, to take the back track, 
to set the face in the opposite direction. The turning 
is ascribed to various persuasive influences according 
to the purpose of the writer. God, Christ, the Holy 
Spirit, the preacher, are each represented as the agents 
in producing the turning, but the man himself is always 
the immediate, active cause. 

3. The reasons for rejecting the popular theory, 
that makes the individual passive, are cogent : The 
popular theory of conversion destroys human responsi- 
bility. It is dishonoring to God, since it makes him 
partial and unjust. It also dishonors man by reducing 
him to a level with the inanimate world. It makes him 
a mere machine, acting entirely from outside, irresistible 
force. It matters not if the outside force is divine, so 
long as man has not the power to resist it. 

That this very plain and simple subject should be 
so grossly perverted, is a matter of profoundest regret, 
and we may well rejoice that more scriptural concep- 
tions are rapidly gaining ground. 

II. I am led to consider next what is involved in 
the process. 



56 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

1. Conversion, or turning to God, involves three 
distinct divine changes. In order for us to understand 
what these are. we must keep in mind what is neces- 
sary in accomplishing this work. Beginning with a 
sinful man: first, his heart must be changed; second, 
there must be a change of life, which is logically pre- 
ceded by a change of life purpose ; third,, there must 
be a change in state, or relation, to God. The man 
who is changed or turned in all these ways is a 
converted man in the Xew Testament sense. There is 
no other change conceivable, pertaining to conversion. 
He loved sin, he now loves righteousness: he practiced 
sin, he now practices righteousness because his life 
purpose is changed; he was in the kingdom of Satan, 
he is now in the kingdom of God's dear Son. This is 
certainly a true and complete conversion. 

2. There are three distinct divine appointments for 
the purpose of accomplishing these three distinct divine 
changes. God has appointed faith to change the heart, 
repentance to change the life, and baptism to change 
the state. The first two changes are not arbitrary 
appointments of God, but necessary, growing out of a 
psychological demand on the parr of man. There is 
never any change of heart- without change of faith ; 
that is. without a new belief. Faith in Christ is 
psychologically suited to change man's affection, or 
love for sin, to love for righteousness. The second 
appointment is also necessary. Change of life must 
always be preceded by change of life purpose, or 
motive. This is repentance. Metanoia is a change of 
mind with respect to sin. brought about by sorrow for 
sin, and leading to a reformation of life. It is a 
mistake to look upon the requirements of the gospel 
as mere arbitrary commands. We may next inquire, 






THREE CHANGES IN CONVERSION 57 

what is demanded when it comes to a change of state 
or relationship to God? Here God must speak. We 
can not dictate the mode of transference from the king- 
dom of Satan to the kingdom of God. If God admits 
us into his kingdom, it is his prerogative to name the 
conditions. This he has done. He says a person pre- 
pared by faith and repentance may come into his 
kingdom by baptism. We are baptized into Christ. 
We do not believe or repent into Christ, but these 
acts prepare us for being baptized into Christ. That 
baptism has moral and spiritual aspects, is a question 
that need not be discussed in this connection. 

3. Notice that each item must keep its proper 
place and do its own work. Faith does not change the 
life, but it changes the heart. Repentance does not 
change the heart, but it changes the life. Baptism 
does not change the heart or life, but it changes the 
state. These three items in conversion can not be 
reversed or changed in order. Life can not first be 
changed and then the heart, nor can state be first 
changed and then the heart and life. The order named 
is the Scriptural and psychological order. 

III. I next raise the question, "What is the true 
meaning of each of these changes?" 

1. Let us address ourselves to the meaning of 
change of heart. What is the matter with the unregen- 
erate human heart? It loves sin, and does not love 
God. To be changed, it must cease to love sin and 
learn to love God. Instead of hungering after sin 
and pleasure, the heart must hunger and thirst after 
righteousness. In most cases, the experiences that men 
tell are simply the changes of heart they have experi- 
enced. Does any one say, are experiences to be con- 
demned? Certainly not, provided they are not made 



58 THE COMMISSIOX EXECUTED 

to mean too much. Often this is the case. They are 
sometimes made to stand for the whole process of 
conversion, and are even regarded as evidence of 
pardon. Change of heart may take place when there 
is no change in life or relation or impartation of the 
Holy Spirit. Faith produces this change, and we may 
best understand this by an illustration. First scene : 
Take the case of a man of middle age who has pros- 
pered in business. Fie has fine stock and bets on them 
in large sums. When he drinks he goes to elegant 
saloons, and he never swears. He is a true gentleman 
in a worldly sense. He attends fairs, attends theaters, 
attends balls, assists to build churches, asylums and 
schools. Fie never goes to church except on rare 
occasions. He has no use, personally, for preachers, 
Bibles or churches. 

Second scene : In the midst of all this his idolized 
child sickens. Every effort is made, but in vain ; the 
child grows worse ; there is anxiety, then foreboding, 
then despair and death. All seems a blank. What 
plans are destroyed ! His bosom heaves ; down he 
sinks, overwhelmed with grief. Arrangements for the 
funeral are made : the coffin, cemetery, grave, crowd 
upon him. He now finds use for a preacher; the 
sermon is preached ; his heart has suddenly become 
tender. The preacher says, "What shall it profit a 
man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his 
own soul?" Awful question! He meditates and sees 
his folly. The funeral is over. He and his wife hunt 
up the passage and weep over it. He goes to church 
and hears the words, 'The wages of sin is death, but 
the gift of Gcd is eternal life." He can scarcely wait 
for next Lord's day to go to God's house. 

Third scene: Some one asks him to attend races, 



CHANGE OF LIFE AND STATE 59 

or the ball, or the saloon. "No," he answers, "I have 
no desire to go." Now I ask, "Is this man's heart 
changed?" Certainly. He hates what he loved, and 
vice versa. Is this man pardoned? It certainly is a 
mistake to regard such change as evidence of pardon. 
Pardon is not a change in us. It takes place with God. 
We only know it when the fact is communicated to 
us. Change of heart is not pardon, but simply a 
preparation for pardon. 

2. We now come to another divine change; name- 
ly, change of life. All heart changes are useless unless 
change of life results. Repentance does this. It is 
change of mind or life purpose. Repentance can not 
change the past. It looks to the future. It determines 
the life that is yet before. In the case above cited, 
the change of heart would logically lead to a change 
of life purpose, arid this to a changed life. 

3. God proposes simply one more change — change 
of state, or relation. He proposes to take the man 
with changed heart and changed purpose into a new 
relation: Rom. 8:15, "For ye received not the spirit 
of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of 
adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father ;" Gal. 4:4, 5, 
"God sent forth his Son, born cf a woman, born under 
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons ;" 
Eph. 1 : 5, "Having foreordained us unto adoption as 
sons through Jesus Christ himself." 

Up to this point, this adoption has not taken place. 
The change has been in man ; there must be an adopt- 
ing act, and God has instituted baptism for this pur- 
pose, at least in one of its aspects. The Scriptures 
declare we are baptized into Christ, baptized into one 
body, "baptized into the name of Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit." Notice that baptism does not change 



60 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

heart or life. This accounts for the fact that there 
are many good people who have not been baptized, and 
vice versa. This does not mean that the one changed 
in heart should not be baptized, but the contrary. It 
does mean, however, that to put baptism first is a 
logical, psychological and theological mistake. 

Perhaps some one may say, "What is meant by 
change of state?" It is simply the entering into God's 
church or kingdom, which is composed of prepared 
persons. Those whose hearts and purposes are changed, 
change their kingdom. Baptism is the visible act by 
which a man passes from one kingdom to the other. 
Such a man is saved. "Except a man be born of 
water and the Spirit, he can not enter the kingdom 
of God." A very common illustration will make this 
plain : Marriage involves three changes : change in 
heart, purpose and relation. Marriage dates from the 
last change. It involves a ceremony of marriage, and 
if one stops short of this, he is not married. 

"But," says one, "I hold it to be impossible for 
one to believe or repent until he is operated upon by 
the Holy Spirit to enable him to do so." I am willing 
to admit that God gives faith; yea, that the Holy Spirit 
gives faith. This is not done, however, by an imme- 
diate action of the Holy Spirit. God and the Holy 
Spirit have given us the gospel in order to produce 
faith. Hence, Paul says, "This people's heart is waxed 
gross and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes 
they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes, 
hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and 
turn, and I should heal them." Again, "I am not 
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of 
God unto salvation to every one that believeth." The 
gospel is called "The Sword of the Spirit." 



CHANGE OF HEART ILLUSTRATED 61 

If we will keep separate the part each item 
performs, we shall have no trouble. Faith prepares 
man for God by changing his heart, repentance leads 
to changed life by changing purpose of life, baptism 
changes the state of one previously changed in heart 
and purpose. Pardon takes place with God. The 
abiding gift of the Holy Spirit is the culmination of 
the whole process, and is the climax of divine grace. 

There are some who doubt their change of heart. 
They imagine that it is not of the right kind. Through 
erroneous teaching they have been led to expect some 
peculiar change that will be manifested by some 
unique feeling, physical or otherwise. An illus- 
tration will help to make the whole matter plain. A 
young man, we will say, ran away from home and 
went to California. He lived a wild, reckless life ; did 
not write to his father or mother, and the longer he 
staid away and the more reckless he became, the more 
certain he felt that his father and mother had ceased 
to love him or take any interest in him. He is finally 
found by an acquaintance, who tells him that he was 
sent out by his father to search for him and find him 
and induce him to return to his father and mother, 
who are yearning for him. He is led to address a let- 
ter to his father, and in reply his father says : "We have 
sought you and spent sleepless nights and unhappy 
days thinking about you. Even while I write, your 
mother sits by and weeps, imploring you to return." 
He believes, his heart is changed ; his whole view of 
his father has undergone transformation. He returns 
home and is received and pardoned. Is there any 
doubt as to whether or not he had the right kind of 
heart change? So you may determine this great ques- 



62 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

tion. If you decide to return to the Father's house, 
you have the right kind of change of heart. 

God does not wait for you to knock ; he sees you 
coming. He has written you a love letter. Nay, more, 
he has sent Jesus after you, who warns and pleads. 
We are assured that our sins and iniquities he will 
remember no more. He will not allow them even to be 
mentioned. 

By His love, compassion and tenderness I entreat 
you. By the pleadings of Jesus and the wooing of the 
Spirit I entreat you. Turn ye! turn ye! for why will 
ye die? 



CHAPTER V. 
The Conversion of the Three Thousand. 

Read Acts 2 : 22-42 as a preparation. 

Text. — Acts 2 : 33 : "And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, 
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ 
unto the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of 
the Holy Spirit." 

The Book of Acts is a very interesting and impor- 
tant book, because: 

1. In a certain sense it is the first book of the 
New Testament. All the events recorded in the first 
four books happened under the Mosaic dispensation. 
This gives us the first history of the new dispensation ; 
it gives us an account of the establishment of the 
Church of Christ, and shows how the apostles preached 
and acted as they went out under the great commission. 

Jesus Christ lived and died under the law. When 
he died on Calvary the law expired by limitation. It is 
said he took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. 
Then it follows that his personal ministry was accom- 
plished while the law of Moses was still in force. 

The Book of Acts is the first New Testament book, 
because it is the first book to record New Testament 
history. The four books that precede are New Testa- 
ment books in the sense that they record the history 
of Christ, who was the Mediator of the new dispensa- 
tion, or testament, and they enunciate the grand, fun- 
damental principles of the new institution, but the 

history recorded happened under the old dispensation. 

63 



64 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

2. It is a book of conversions. It shows us the 
process by which men were made Christians under the 
apostles' ministry by giving us many examples of con- 
version. We are thus enabled to compare the several 
cases and see wherein they agree or disagree. 

3. The subject of conversion is very important 
because it involves the destiny of the individual for 
time and eternity. Hence, it will ever arrest and hold 
the attention of men. 

In some respects, the case of conversion recorded in 
the second chapter of Acts is the most interesting of 
all because it is the first case of conversion accom- 
plished after Christ's ascension and coronation. 
These converts formed the first church of Christ, or, 
in other words, here the church began. This must 
invest it with singular interest. 

Beginnings of things are always interesting, and 
their study is fruitful in results. No man who seeks 
to understand an institution will fail to study its 
beginnings. 

In studying this case of conversion, our attention is 
called to: 

I. The time when and place where the event 
took place, and the person who officiated. 

1. It was on the day of Pentecost, which was the 
time demanded by the type. Moses was the mediator 
of the first covenant, which was promulgated from 
Sinai fifty days after the first Passover. This first 
Passover was eaten on the seventh day of the week, 
which afterward was set apart as the Sabbath, thus 
commemorating the day of deliverance from Egyptian 
bondage. The fiftieth day after the first Passover 
Sabbath was designated as the day of Pentecost, and 
it commemorated, among other things, the giving of 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED 65 

the law from Sinai, and it always came on the first 
day of the week, since the fiftieth day after the Pass- 
over Sabbath would fall on the first day of the week. 
Christ was the antitype of Moses, and the Mediator 
of the new covenant, which should have been promul- 
gated on Pentecost fifty days after the paschal Sabbath 
of the week in which Christ was crucified, according 
to type. Consequently the new law that went forth 
from Jerusalem, being promulgated on Pentecost and 
the first day of the week, fulfilled to the letter the type 
furnished in the giving of the law by Moses. The true 
paschal lamb, Jesus Christ, lay three days in the grave. 
Fifty days after the Sabbath of the week in which he 
was slain the time-expired, and the new law was given. 
Thus, the first day of the week commemorates both 
the resurrection of Christ and the giving of the new 
law*. 

2. It was at Jerusalem, which was the right place. 
The prophet Jeremiah had declared six hundred years 
before, that the new law should go forth from Zion 
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. The in- 
structions of Christ fully accorded with this. After 
giving his great commission, he said, "Tarry ye in 
the city until ye be clothed with power from on high." 
Also the commission, as recorded by Luke, said, "Thus 
it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and 
to rise from the dead the third day, that repentance and 
remission of sins should be preached in his name among 
all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. " This was, there- 
fore, the right place for the first promulgation of the 
new law. 

3. The right person did the preaching. The record 
says, "But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted 
up his voice. " Why not James, or John, or Matthew? 



66 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

The reason is clear. Jesus on one occasion propounded 
to his disciples a great question, "Who do men say 
that I, the Son of man, am?" They answered, "Some 
say thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others. 
Jeremias, or one of the prophets/' He saith unto them, 
"But who say ye that I am?" Simon Peter answered, 
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus 
answered and said unto him, "Blessed art thou, Simon, 
son of Jonas, for flesh and blocd hath not revealed it 
unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven, and I say 
unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I 
will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not 
prevail against it; and I will give unto thee the keys 
of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt 
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what- 
soever thcu shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in 
heaven." Jesus here declares that he will build a 
church and that he will give unto Peter the keys, 
which means, doubtless, the authority to open the door, 
or declare the terms of admission into the church. 
Hence, Peter was the right man to admit the first 
citizens into the kingdom, and we find that he was the 
one who opened the door to the Gentiles at the house- 
hold of Cornelius at a later time. 

It is wonderful to note the complete agreement 
between prophecy and fulfillment in all that pertains 
to Christ and his kingdom. The one who maintains 
that all this is mere coincidence, shows a perversity that 
is amazing. 

II. The miraculous outpouring of the Holy 
Spirit. 

The description is very vivid. In harmony with 
Christ's instruction, the apostles were waiting in Jeru- 
salem for the promised power. The record says : "They 



THE MIRACULOUS GIFT OF THE SPIRIT 67 

were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly 
there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty 
wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 
And there appeared unto them tongues, parting asunder, 
like as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them, and 
they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit 
gave them utterance." 

1. The first question to be decided is: Upon whom 
was this miraculous gift of the Spirit conferred? Either 
upon the twelve or upon the one hundred and twenty, 
and it seems to me the description of the whole event 
indicates the twelve. Verse 26, chapter 1, reads, "And 
they gave lots for them; and the lot fell upon Matthias, 
and he was numbered among the eleven apostles." The 
next verse (2: 1) reads, "And when the day of Pente- 
cost was fully come, they were all together in one 
place." It seems to be the same "they" referred to as 
casting lots to fill the vacancy caused by the fall of 
Judas. But even if it still be contended that the one 
hundred and twenty were recipients of the blessing, it 
will be seen that the outpouring was not general, but 
confined to a limited number. 

There is a clear distinction between the gift of the 
Holy Spirit, carrying with it miraculous power, and the 
gift of the Spirit promised as an abiding guest in the 
Christian heart. The former was always special, con- 
ferred for a specific purpose, and never given as an 
individual blessing. The latter was an abiding presence 
to comfort and strengthen the individual, and did not 
carry with it miracle-working power. 

2. What was accomplished by the miraculous out- 
pouring of the Spirit is an important question. Jesus, 
before he left the earth, said (John 16:7-11): "It is 
expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not 



68 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I 
go, I will send him unto you. And he, when he is come, 
will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteous- 
ness, and of judgment : of sin, because they believe not 
on me ; of righteousness, because I go unto the Father 
and ye behold me no more; of judgment, because the 
prince of this world hath been judged." 

(1) We learn then that the coming of the Spirit 
convicted the world of sin in rejecting Christ. This 
coming demonstrated that Jesus was the true Messiah, 
and in rejecting him, the world was guilty. The sin, 
according to Christ's explanation, is not sin in general 
but the specific sin of rejecting Christ. "Of sin, because 
they believe not on me." This applied directly to those 
who rejected Christ when he was here. When the 
Spirit came, according to Christ's promise, it justified 
Christ and consequently condemned those who rejected 
him. Its coming also condemned those in all time who 
would reject him. By the coming of the Spirit on 
Pentecost, the world to-day is condemned for the sin 
of rejecting Christ. 

(2) The second item in the Spirit's work is to con- 
vict the world of righteousness. Here again we have 
Christ's own explanation. It was not the righteousness 
of the world, nor any portion of the world, but of 
Christ; "of righteousness, because I go to the Father." 
The Jewish Sanhedrin had sat in judgment on Christ, 
and had condemned him for unrighteousness. He was 
declared to be a blasphemer. Christ carried his case 
to the highest court in the universe, and by the coming 
of the Spirit, in accordance with his promise, his 
acceptance with God is declared, and his righteousness 
made manifest. In other words, the decision of the 
Tewish court that condemned Christ is reversed at the - 



THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 69 

Supreme Court of the Universe. If the Spirit had not 
come, we would not have known that Christ had reached 
heaven and had been accepted of the Father. Now 
there is no excuse for denying the righteousness of 
Christ, and those are convicted who do so. 

(3) The third part of the Holy Spirit's work in 
behalf of the world was to convict it of judgment, 
and here again Christ guards us against misunderstand- 
ings. "Of judgment, because the prince of the world 
is judged." It is not the judgment of the world, nor 
of wicked men, but of Satan, the prince of this world. 
Christ, in his death, grappled with Satan, and wrenched 
the keys of death from his grasp. The conqueror is at 
last conquered, and his final judgment has commenced. 
By the coming of the Spirit, Christ's complete and 
lasting victory is fully guaranteed, and the final over- 
throw of the powers of darkness made sure. Now the 
world is called upon to transfer its allegiance to a new 
sovereign through the proclamation of the gospel. The 
beginning of the end has come. From henceforth 
Satan's kingdom shall decline until the final overthrow, 
and the kingdom of Christ shall increase in strength 
and power until its final victory. Then shall the king- 
dom be delivered up to God, the Father, and the Son 
himself shall become subject, that God may be all in all. 

(4) It also gave evidence of the verification of 
Christ's promise. He had said, "He that believeth on 
me out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, 
but this he said of the Spirit, that they that believe on 
him should receive." This wonderful promise was now 
about to be verified, as Peter's sermon will show. Peter 
promised remission of sins and the gift of the Holy 
Spirit on plainly expressed conditions. The visible 
signs gave full evidence that the new spiritual presence 

(6) 



70 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

promised to the believers was now to be realized. In 
other words, it gave assurance that the promise of 
Christ, now about to be reiterated by Peter, was a 
veritable truth. 

(5) A special work was accomplished for the 
apostles by the miraculous power conferred by the 
Spirit. They needed power: power to remember all 
Jesus had taught them and understand it. Jesus had 
told these followers of his that when the Spirit came 
he would bring to their remembrance all things that 
he had told them. They needed power to pierce the 
heavens and know what was going on there, and 
this was conferred, as the sermon of Peter presently 
showed. They needed vindication in the eyes of the 
multitude that their message might be accredited, and 
this was done in the gift of tongues that enabled 
them to speak in all the languages represented in 
the miscellaneous crowd gathered at Jerusalem. 

3. It may help to a better understanding to note 
in conclusion what was not accomplished by the 
miraculous outpouring. It did not directly communi- 
cate faith or result in conversion. It was a gift con- 
ferred on the twelve, or on the hundred and twenty, 
at most, and these already believed. They did not 
need conversion, as they already occupied the right 
relation to Christ. To have converted them would 
have turned them away from Christ. The con- 
version of the three thousand, that soon after took 
place, was accomplished by the preaching of the 
gospel, as we shall presently see. It hence fol- 
lows that the miraculous features of Pentecost were 
special and extraordinary, growing out of the exigen- 
cies of the occasion, and must not, therefore, be 
regarded as permanent, characteristic features of con- 



PETER'S SERMON ON PENTECOST 71 

version, nor with the gift of the Spirit soon after 
promised by Peter. 

III. The sermon that Peter preached, which was 
the first gospel sermon ever proclaimed. 

1. He first carried their minds back to prophecy. 
In this the relation of Christianity to Judaism crops 
out beautifully. Christianity fulfills Judaism. Jesus 
said, "One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass 
away from the law till all things be accomplished." 
It fulfilled it as the man fulfills the boy; as the noon 
fulfills the dawn; as the antitype fulfills its type. 
Jesus Christ fulfilled Judaism by fulfilling its proph- 
ecies, both verbal and pictorial, and accomplishing 
the great purpose for which Judaism had been in- 
stituted. 

2. After laying the foundation in prophecy, Peter 
begins the sermon proper, with the words, verses 
22-24: "Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of 
Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by 
mighty works and wonders and signs which God 
did by him in the midst of you, even as ye your- 
selves know; him being delivered up by the de- 
terminate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye, by 
the hand of lawless men, did crucify and slay; whom 
God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death 
because it was not possible that he should be holden 
of it." There is no effort to make the hard, bitter 
facts more agreeable. Even the despised name of 
Nazareth is not withheld. This is the language of a 
brave man. We almost wonder if this can be the 
same Peter who denied his Lord with cursings a 
short time before. May we not conclude, in view 
of Peter's boldness, which never after this time for- 
sook him, that Peter had come into possession of the 



72 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

new spiritual presence which Christ had promised 
would come after his departure from the earth? "If 
I go away, I will send the Comforter unto you/' He 
certainly, with the other apostles, enjoyed the gift 
of miraculous power, but this had been enjoyed be- 
fore the crucifixion of Christ. 

Peter makes seven points in his sermon, and in 
so doing gives an epitome of the four Gospels, which 
may be summed up as follows: (1) That Jesus had 
been approved among them by miracles. (2) That 
they knew this to be true. (3) That it was not from 
impotence on his part, but according to divine pur- 
pose, that he was delivered into their hands. (4) 
That they had put him to death when thus delivered. 
(5) That they had done this wickedly, thus charging 
them with sin. (6) That God had raised him from 
the dead. (7) That death could not hold him. Jesus 
had said, "No man takes my life from me ; I lay it 
down of myself; I have power to lay it down, and I 
have power to take It again." 

The three great fundamental facts of the gospel 
came out in this sermon which agrees with Paul's 
definition, "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you 
the gospel which I preached unto you. Which also 
yc have received and wherein ye stand. By which, 
also, ye are saved, except ye believed in vain. For I 
delivered unto you first of all that which also I re- 
ceived ; how that Christ died for our sins according to 
the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he 
hath been raised on the third day according to the 
scriptures." The last fact must be joined with the 
second to make it gospel or good news. 

3. Peter, then, in a masterly way, clinches the 
whole by showing that David in prophecy declared 



THE EFFECT OF PETER'S SERMON 7S 

it all. The climax is reached by making David's 
words, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on 
my right hand till I make thine enemies the footstool of 
thy feet," refer to Christ's exaltation. 

4. Note next the effect produced: "Now when 
they heard this they were pierced in their hearts." 
This piercing was the result of the consciousness of 
sin; Peter had sent the dart home. They cried out, 
"What shall we do?" Peter had spoken of a pos- 
sible salvation in Joel's language. This was the 
first time under the reight of Christ the question was 
ever asked, but it was not the last time. It has 
been, and ever will be, the standing question of those 
burdened with consciousness of sin. There is no 
question of like importance, nor one that demands a 
plainer or more unequivocal answer. We may well 
pause to listen to the inspired answer given the first 
time the question was asked. 

5. Let us then notice the answer to the most 
important question ever propounded : "Repent ye, and 
be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus 

. Christ unto the remission of your sins, and ye shall 
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." 

Here is God's offer of pardon on plain conditions. 
The important clause is, "In the name of Jesus." 
Baptism is nothing unless done in deference to 
Christ's authority. 

The fact that Peter did not mention faith as a 
condition of salvation is very easily understood. The 
question came after the sermon, after the people had 
heard and believed. Peter's answer found them just 
where they were ; they already had faith, that is, they 
believed Peter's testimony concerning Christ. The 



U THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

next step was repentance; hence Peter said, "Repent 
and be baptized. " 

The meaning of repentance comes out clearly. It 
is not sorrow, for they were commanded to repent 
after they were made sorry, but it is change of mind 
produced by sorrow and leading to reformation of 
life, of which baptism was the first overt act. 

6. A great promise follows ; namely, the gift of 
the Holy Spirit. This was the crowning blessing, 
and embodied the purpose of the Christian dispen- 
sation. This is for all Christians: "For to you is the 
promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar 
off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call 
unto him." It is distinct from the miraculous out- 
pouring. That was special ; this, general. 

All this exactly accords with the other conver- 
sions, as we shall see as w r e examine them. They 
heard, believed, repented, obeyed, and enjoyed the 
promise. So it always is. 

Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Then 
this command comes to you. To neglect it is to 
despise God's mercy and reject his offer of pardon. 
To accept it is to receive the greatest boon a mortal 
can know and rejoice in the greatest gift a man 
can have. 



CHAPTER VI. 
The Conversions at the Temple. 

Read Acts 3-4 : 22. 

Texts. — Acts 4: 13, 14: "Now when they beheld the boldness 
of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned 
and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of 
them, 'hal they had been with Jesus. And seeing the man which 
was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against 
it* 

Acts 4:4: "But many of them that heard the word believed, 
and the number of the men came to be about five thousand." 

1. Christianity has much to do for the bodies of 
men; herein the church is guilty of a great over- 
sight Christianity is rightfully regarded as a spir- 
itual system, and Christ as a spiritual king, yet 
Christianity has a mission to perform for the physi- 
cal man. Its mission is, in part, the development 
and care of the body. Christ spent much of his time 
in caring for physical needs. Were men hungry, he 
fed them ; were they sick, he healed them. He 
reached the soul, not by disregarding physical wants, 
but through care for physical necessities. The same 
attention was paid to physical needs in the work 
and teaching of Christ's apostles. The need of the 
widow and orphan was not overlooked ; the distress 
of the poor was not forgotten. The Christianity of 
the apostolic day was not a mere sentiment, a sing- 
ing of songs and manifestation of ecstatic feeling, 

but it was a very plain, every-day matter. Tt dressed 

75 



76 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

in every-day, working clothes, and met people on the 
streets, in the market-place, and entered into helpful 
fellowship with them. It went into the hovel of pov- 
erty, the chamber of the sick, into every needy situa- 
tion of men, no matter what the nature of the need, 
and extended a helpful hand. It said, whatever affects 
men can never be a matter of indifference. 

2. The church that overlooks the wants of the 
body will, not be trusted to deal with the wants of 
the soul. In our day men will ever reason from the 
lower to the higher. To be careful in the least is to 
give assurance of carefulness in the greater. This 
is a divine principle of action. "If God so clothe the 
grass of the field which to-day is, and to-morrow is 
cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe 
you, O ye of little faith?" The church that looks 
after the bodies of men will get a hold on the hearts 
of men that it will be hard to break, and the day is 
at hand when the church that disregards the every- 
day needs of the physical man will have the con- 
tempt it so richly deserves. The time has come 
when Christianity must thrust itself in everywhere 
and solve every problem that deals with human 
needs. 

I. This Book of Acts, like the Bible of which it 
is a part, is true to life as shown in the contrasts it 
presents.* 

1. Life is made up of extreme and opposite expe- 
riences brought close together. To-day we laugh; 
to-morrow we weep, and vice versa. To-day we are 
on the mountain-top ; to-morrow we are in the valley. 
God gives us one day in seven for the mountain expe- 
rience; six days for the experience of the valley. God 



*Parker's Apostolic Life, Vol. I., pp. 80-104. 



DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES NEEDED 77 

gives us some moments when we stand on the sum- 
mit of the mountain and in the clear sunlight that 
beams from his throne, but many moments when we 
stand in the shadows and darkness, when, were it 
not for the faith begotten by the mountain experi- 
ence, we would give up in despair. The sunshine 
and shadow are mingled, yet sharply defined. See 
the contrast here presented in the events recorded in 
the second chapter and the opening of the third 
chapter of Acts. Intense action is followed by quiet 
service. How true this is to life. It is but a step 
in life from one extreme to another. 

2. In this is a deep lesson ; one kind of experi- 
ence will not develop men. It takes sunshine and 
shadow, storm and calm, to make a man. A life of 
ease, of great luxury, is a dangerous life. Such a 
life is a misfortune. Such a life destroys a man's 
chances. It gives him no opportunity to develop 
moral fiber; no favorable time to produce spiritual 
muscle, so to speak. The sterling virtues, the nobler 
qualities of manhood, are born in travail and pain. 
"These are they that have come up through great 
tribulation," was prophetically said of the redeemed 
in heaven. That is the only way to get up in this 
world. The man who relieves his child of the neces- 
sity of effort, struggle, sacrifice, takes away his 
chance of becoming a man. 

We need Pentecost; we need the day of excite- 
ment; we also need the ordinary routine service, the 
hour of prayer. Luxuries are good, but bread is 
necessary. Here is a danger. Some can not come 
down to the ordinary. Peter and John were present 
on Pentecost, yet they went up into the temple at 



78 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

the hour of prayer. The excitement of Pentecost 
did not destroy their taste for commonplace duty. 

3. Here is where the church fails to-day. Some 
are on hand in the church on the Pentecost occa- 
sion; where are they to-morrow? Not in the temple 
at the hour of prayer, nor yet ministering to the 
needs of suffering, needy men. 

We need more routine workers. We read in the 
religious papers of multitudes being converted; where 
are they to-morrow? True religion takes men to the 
temple. This we must have. We do not go to 
church to get religion, but because we have it, and 
do not want to lose it; we go to get closer to God, 
so we may get more of his strength for the battle 
of to-morrow; we go to get a better understanding 
of God's viewpoint, so we may see and understand 
the true reality, the real duty, the supreme business 
of the hour. This points to the business of the 
preacher. He has two things to do when in the 
pulpit: hold up Christ as the supreme need of the 
soul, and tell Christian men how they can best re- 
lieve the present distress and supply the present need, 
and this will be determined by the ever-changing 
conditions. It is the preacher's business to take the 
old principles and bring them to the solution of the 
new problems. 

II. This particular incident reveals the greatness 
of ordinary service. 

1. Men make great mistakes in looking on ordi- 
nary service as a commonplace matter. "Life is 
real, life is earnest. ,, To do one's duty is great, but 
of all duties, what is greater than prayer? I fear 
we miss the meaning of prayer. It has become a 



CHARACTER OF PRAYER 79 

lot of set phrases, a performance, a mere routine, or, 
worst of all, an elocutionary exercise. 

I sometimes hear men speak of eloquent prayer, 
of a man gifted in prayer because of his smooth, 
high-sounding sentences. It is a wonder God does 
not smite men dead for such blasphemy. Prayer 
expresses an intense yearning, an ardent desire; it 
is the utterance of a soul overwhelmed with a con- 
scious need. It knows nothing about rhetoric, or 
well-rounded periods. It is the cry of a soul con- 
scious of hunger, of its own littleness and unworthi- 
ness, and of the majesty, greatness and goodness of 
God. 

2. Can everybody pray? May every one pray? 
Some say they can not pray ; this is a great mistake ; 
some think they can not, but they can at least pray 
sympathetically if they will. Their souls can ride 
to heaven on the wings of somebody's petition even 
if their own tongue refuses utterance. Potentially, 
everybody can pray, and actually everybody will 
pray. Some will pray when the sun shines, but others 
will wait till the storm comes down upon them, but 
sooner or later all will pray; if not before, when the 
King comes in all his glory. Of one thing be assured : 
true prayers pass through the heart and are wet with 
the heart's blo&d; and know, too, that "the effectual, 
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." 

3. Every true prayer is a step Godward. Peter 
and John were on high ground when they went up 
to pray ; may we not say as high as they stood amidst 
the wonderful experiences of Pentecost? The Pen- 
tecost experience was great, but the temple experi- 
ence was equally great. The routine, every-day 



80 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

service is indeed a very great service; the ordinary 
worker is a mighty man of God. It is not so hard 
for the soldier to do his duty in the midst of the 
battle, when the eyes of comrades are upon him, and 
he touches shoulders with his fellows, as on the 
lonely sentinel beat when nobody sees him and 
naught but duty inspires. In the quiet, unostenta- 
tious service is where so many fail. Every church 
needs more routine workers ; that is, more who can 
and will go up to the temple on the quiet day after 
Pentecost is over, which will result in a second 
Pentecost as it did on this occasion. When Chris- 
tian people take up the great every-day duties of 
Christian life with fidelity and earnestness, Pentecost 
will become a very common experience. Revivals 
will be the natural order of events. 

III. This incident shows that Peter and John 
were rich in true wealth, although poor from a 
worldly standpoint. 

1. The world's standard of wealth is a low one. 
If a man have not silver and gold, he has nothing 
worth while in the estimation of many. Such a man 
gets slight welcome in the social circle, the club, and 
oftentimes, let it be said with shame, in the church. 
Silver and gold are the magic keys that unlock many 
doors in this world. Peter and John -could not enter 
many circles. The "moneyless man" is oftentimes an 
unwelcome intruder. It is sad to see how some can 
belittle life by losing sight of the nobler, better 
things which constitute its true wealth. 

2. This incident shows that a man may have 
something better than silver and gold. Some one 
may ask, "What can a man have that is better than 
gold?" To judge from the mad scramble to get it, 






THE BETTER THINGS 81 

nothing could be better. Then, indeed, it were a 
sad case for mankind, for then only a few, at most, 
could attain unto the highest good, and the tenure 
of the coveted blessing is also seen to be most inse- 
cure. Riches, we are told, take wings and fly away, 
and our own observation amply confirms the truth 
of the statement. Soul-wealth is the only true and 
enduring riches. Divine love, sympathy, faith, and 
with these trained and disciplined intellectual powers, 
constitute the things of highest worth; without these 
nothing else has value. 

Let us not miss these words: "Such as I have, 
give I unto thee/' Peter and John had something 
the world needed more than silver and gold. Gold 
will not take the place of soul riches? To have 
nothing but gold is to be very poor. A man without 
gold may give more than all others. He may speak 
the word of love and appreciation for which the heart 
hungers; he may give the sympathy that meets the 
deepest craving of the soul ; he may, by a masterful, 
well-trained mind, confer priceless blessing. The 
greatest gifts that have been made to the world con- 
sist not of silver and gold, but of heart treasures. 

IV. We have here an example of the most con- 
vincing argument. 

1. Consider the position of Peter and John; they 
went into the temple and healed a lame man. A 
crowd gathered and Peter preached and charged sin 
upon them. He spared not; he accused them of 
murder. The chief priests came upon them and cast 
them into prison. On the morrow they were brought 
before Caiaphas and John and Alexander for trial. 
This would seem to have been a very serious situa- 
tion. What shall they do? Compromise With- 



82 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

hold? Apologize? Sue for mercy? On the con- 
trary, Peter, bold as a lion, preached Jesus at the 
risk of further imprisonment. A man can better 
afford to be in prison than to be a coward and vio- 
late conscience; in fact, when a man is untrue to 
duty and self, he thrusts himself into the darkest 
dungeon. 

2. Now note the convincing argument, verse 14: 
"And seeing the man which was healed standing 
with them, they could say nothing against it." We 
need not fear the persecution if we can produce the 
healed man. Here is the unanswerable argument of 
Christianity. This is what the world is looking for. 
This is what the church, theoretically, proposes to 
do. This is what the Master taught by word and 
example. This is where the church fails to-day, and 
for lack of this the world is being filled with all 
manner of organizations to do the work that the 
church ought to be doing. This is getting to be an 
exceedingly practical world. Institutions can not 
live on mere sentiment; they can not stand on a 
past reputation. Ability to satisfy the world's need 
is the only passport to favor. If the world ever 
gets the better of the argument, it will be because 
Christianity surrenders the most convincing syl- 
logism ; namely, the healed man. Christian men will 
hurl powerful arguments, couched in most cogent 
phrases, in vain, if they do not match the argument 
in deed. Caiaphas might have answered Peter's ar- 
gument, but he could not answer Peter's work; so 
it will ever be. 

V. The true relation of theory and practice is 
here disclosed. 

1. True theory should never be despised. Some 



RELATION OF THEORY AND PRACTICE 83 

profess to despise theory on the ground of being 
practical. Let it not be forgotten that behind every 
good practice lies a good theory. However, it is 
true that a theory may be beautiful, but not prac- 
tical. Some very pleasant theories fail when put to 
the test. Jesus taught a most beautiful theory; there 
is nothing so beautiful as the Sermon on the Mount, 
but it was also wonderfully practical. Had there 
been a single discrepancy between the theory and the 
practice, all would have fallen to the ground long 
ago. The reason why Jesus has lived growingly 
through the ages, comes about from the fact that 
his theories, when put to the test, never disappoint 
the expectation. Theory and practice are married by 
God, and what God has joined together, let no man 
put asunder. Divorce true theory and practice, and 
all is lost. The agent may display on paper his reap- 
ing machine ; he may explain it most eloquently, but 
the farmer says, "Show it at work. I want a practical 
demonstration." Jesus said, "If I bear witness of 
myself, my witness is not true." "Believe me for 
the very work's sake." Paul said, "I came not with 
excellency of speech, . . . but in demonstration of 
the Spirit and of power." The first commission said, 
"As ye go, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the 
dead, cast out devils; freely ye have received, freely 
give." This has a practical application to all Chris- 
tian people. Doctrine is important, but let all under- 
stand that however great the truth for which they 
contend may be, they must complete the argument 
by producing the healed man. Otherwise all is lost. 
Note what produced the effect: "When they 
saw the man that was healed, they could say noth- 
ing." Against this there is no rising up. The world 



84 * THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

will never be brought to Christ by a fine theory 
divorced from practice. I am in love with the great 
plea for union of the people of God, for the rejec- 
tion of all party names and creeds, but I know full 
well that with this must be combined the healed 
man, or all will end in failure. The world sees the 
sick man first, and demands that he shall be healed, 
and woe to the church that forgets this. 

2. Church ordinances rest here. We may plead 
for the Lord's Supper every first day of the week; 
do we attend? If not, our argument has little force. 
We may plead for the baptism of the apostles, but 
do we give it the place of dignity and sacredness 
that it occupied under their ministry? We say^ 
preach the gospel in order to save; how much do we 
give? how much sacrifice do we make to send it to 
the ends of the earth? Do we, most of all, preach it 
in action? 

I fear it is Satan's plan to reduce all to theory. 
No doubt he is perfectly willing to have us make 
Christianity a mere matter of argument. He wants 
us to spend our time in talk and discussion. Produce 
the healed man; this answers infidelity; this answers 
the hostile critic. Build schools, asylums ; heal the 
sick, cast out devils ; this is the work of Christianity. 
It must show the healed man or perish. 

3. This divorces the fate of the cause from that 
of the advocate. Peter preached in the morning; he 
was in prison at night. So it may be with us, but 
if we have a healed man to show, our work will 
stand, and if so, nothing else matters. Even the 
prison-house of death may hold us, but the work will 
live; the cause will go forward. They could shut 
up Peter, but they could not shut up Peter's work. 



SECOND CASE OF CONVERSION LIKE FIRST 85 

When Christianity rests the case in the healed man 
the argument will have been won. 

It is great to do great things, but it is greater 
to do little things with fidelity, or at least the things 
the world calls small. It is well to have an orthodox 
faith, but it is greater to have an orthodox life. The 
orthodoxy of action must accompany the orthodoxy 
of faith. And let us remember that the thing the 
world needs most, every one can give. All can not 
make the great speech, but all can perform the noble 
deed. 

VI. In the study of this second case of conver- 
sion recorded in the Book of Acts, we readily see 
that it agrees with the conversion of the three thou- 
sand, in all essential particulars. 

1. The attention of the people was arrested by 
a miracle, as was the case on Pentecost. Miracle 
was uniformly employed by the apostles as they 
went out under the great commission. They were 
divinely given credentials used in substantiating 
their superhuman message; this was necessary in the 
beginning, because extraordinary claims demand ex- 
traordinary justification. However, when such claims 
have been once established by supernatural proof, 
miracles are no longer necessary, consequently we 
have no account of miracles being employed except 
by the apostles, or those to whom the power was 
given by imposition of the hands of the apostles. It 
must ever be kept in mind that the mission of mir- 
acles in the establishment of the church was special 
and extraordinary, and constituted no part of the 
process of conversion, and that they were conse- 
quently discontinued as soon as the purpose for 

which they had been given was accomplished. 
(7) • 



86 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

2. We also see that the facts of the gospel were 
set forth by the apostle Peter, as in the sermon on 
Pentecost; he preached the death, resurrection and 
glorification of Jesus, and the remission of sins ia 
his name. He also made reference to prophecy in 
substantiation of his message, as he did in his first 
sermon on Pentecost. This seems to have been the 
apostolic method of preaching. They made much 
use of prophecy. They showed that Jesus, in his 
life, death, resurrection and glorification, fulfilled the 
prophecies of the Old Testament. It is a pity that 
in our modern preaching so little use is found for 
the weapon that was so powerful in apostolic hands. 

3. We also see that the commands enjoined ia 
this second sermon were the same as the commands 
given on Pentecost. The record does not state that 
the people cried out and asked what to do, as they 
did on Pentecost; but whether they did or did not, 
the command to repent came after the sermon. The 
preacher evidently saw that at least some of the 
people believed his message, and he commanded them 
to repent, which is always the first thing to be done 
after faith is produced. On Pentecost, Peter said, 
"Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins;" 
here he said, "Repent ye, therefore, and turn again, 
that your sins may he blotted out, that so there 
may be given seasons of refreshing from the pres- 
ence of the Lord." When we consider that baptism 
is the first outward act of the sinner, following faith 
and repentance, we can not doubt that the turning 
here commanded consisted of, or involved, baptism, 
and was in order to the remission of sins, just as it 
was on Pentecost; hence in this case, as in the 
former, faith, repentance and baptism were the or- 



HOW FAITH WAS PRODUCED 87 

derly steps involved in the conversion. On Pentecost 
Peter followed the command to be baptized with the 
promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Here he 
uses the phrase, "so there may come seasons of 
refreshing from the presence of the Lord," doubtless 
pointing to the blessing conferred through the gift 
of the Holy Spirit promised to the obedient, peni- 
tent believer. 

4. It should be carefully noted that in this case, 
as well as in the conversion of the three thousand, 
faith was produced by preaching, and not by the 
immediate action of the Holy Spirit upon the soul 
of man. This agrees with the Scripture teaching 
on the subject. Paul declares, "How can they be- 
lieve in him of whom they have not heard, and how 
can they hear without a preacher ?" 

5. As to how many were converted on this occa- 
sion, or as to how long it was after Pentecost, we do 
not know. The record informs us that after the 
wonderful events of Pentecost, the disciples sold 
their possessions and parted them among themselves, 
as each had need, and that they continued day by 
day in the temple, and breaking bread at home they 
took their food with gladness, and it says further, 
"The Lord added to them day by day those that 
were saved." How long this continued before the 
temple experience of Peter and John is not stated, 
but we may safely assume that a number of days 
or weeks elapsed; nor do we know just how many 
were converted on this occasion. Some say five 
thousand, some, two thousand, but it would seem 
most natural to conclude that beginning with the 
three thousand on Pentecost, the number of the 
disciples grew day by day, and that when the con- 



88 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

versions of this occasion were added to them, the 
number reached about five thousand men ; as to 
whether women were included in this account we 
do not know ; the record says, "five thousand men." 
This may be a generic use of the term ; certainly 
there could be no reason for excluding women from 
the count. The conversion of women is mentioned 
in other places ; in fact, to women is given a most 
honorable place in the early history of the church. 

Thus it will be seen that in the facts preached, 
the commands given, and the promises made, there is 
substantial agreement in the two sermons of Peter 
that we have examined. AVe also see that there is 
perfect accord with the steps involved in conversion; 
namely, faith to change the heart, repentance to 
change the life purpose, and baptism to change the 
state, or relationship to God. 



CHAPTER VII. 
The Conversion of the Samaritans, 

Text. — Acts 8 : 5-24 : And Philip went down to the city 
of Samaria, and proclaimed unto them the Christ. And the 
multitude gave heed with one accord to the things that were 
spoken by Philip, when they heard and saw the things which he 
did. For from many of those that had unclean spirits they 
came out, crying with a loud voice; and many that were palsied, 
and that were lame, were healed. And there was much joy in 
that city. 

But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who before- 
time in the city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of 
Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: 

To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, 
saying, This man is that power of God which is called great. 
And they gave heed to him, because that of long time he had 
amazed them with his sorceries, but when they believed Philip 
preaching good tidings concerning the kingdom of God, and the 
name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 

And Simon also himself believed : and being baptized, he 
continued with Philip, and beholding the signs and great mira- 
cles wrought, he was amazed. 

Now when the apostles that were at Jerusalem heard that 
Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them 
Peter and John, who when they were come down, prayed for 
them that they might receive the Holy Spirit : For as yet it 
had fallen upon none of them; only they had been baptized 
unto the name of the Lord Jesus. 

Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the 
Holy Spirit. 

Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the 
apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them 
money, 



00 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay 
my hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit. 

But Peter said unto him, Thy silver perish with thee, be- 
cause thou hast thought to obtain the gift of God with money. 

Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart 
is not right before God. 

Repent therefore of this thy wickedness; and pray the Lord, 
if perhaps the thought of thy heart shall be forgiven thee: 

For I see that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the 
bond of iniquity. 

And Simon answered, and said, Pray ye for me to the Lord, 
that none of the things which ye have spoken come upon me. 

This is a most interesting case, because it deals 
with the conversion of a people who were not of 
pure Jewish blood. The Samaritans were a mon- 
grel people descended from the remnant of Jews left 
in the land at the time of the Babylonian captivity, 
who intermarried with colonists that had settled 
in the country after the deportation of their breth- 
ren. On the return from the captivity the Samaritans 
wanted to assist in the rebuilding of the temple, but 
their offer was indignantly refused, consequently a 
bitter prejudice grew up between the Jews and 
Samaritans, and so great did it become that between 
Jew and Samaritan there was no dealing. 

It will be borne in mind that up to this time 
no Gentiles had been converted; at least, there is no 
record of such conversion. The disciples, it seemed, 
remained in Jerusalem, notwithstanding the commis- 
sion to go into all the world to preach the gospel 
to the whole creation. This shows the exclusiveness 
of the early Jewish Christians and their failure to 
realize the obligation placed upon them by the com- 
mission of our Lord. They were finally driven out 
by the persecution that arose upon the death of 



THE CONVERSION OF THE SAMARITANS 91 

Stephen, and then they went everywhere preaching 
the Word, and Philip was found in the city of 
Samaria, preaching to the despised Samaritans. It 
was sort of half-way house between the Jew and 
the Gentile, and may be regarded as a preparatory 
step to the fuller carrying out of the commission. 

Three things stand out prominently in this case 
of conversion : 

I. The conversion of the Samaritans by the 
preaching of Philip. 

1. It is worthy of notice that the power to work 
miracles in the planting of the church was not 
confined to the apostles. Philip exercised the power 
among the Samaritans, and he used it for the same 
purpose for which the apostles used it; namely, to 
get the attention of the people, and to substantiate 
his superhuman message. It seems that the apostles 
could confer this power upon others, but we have 
no record that it descended to the third person. It 
was evidently intended simply as a gift to be used 
in the early church. We notice that the effect of 
the miracle upon the Samaritans was just the same 
as the effect produced by the miracles upon Pente- 
costians, and upon the people in the temple when 
Peter preached his second sermon. The record says 
that the multitudes gave heed, with one accord, unto 
the things that were spoken by Philip, when they saw 
the signs that he did, and that they believed his 
preaching concerning the good tidings of the kingdom 
of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, and they were 
baptized, both men and women. 

2. The steps in their conversion must have been 
the same as in the case of the Jews on Pentecost. 
Philip had learned his message from the apostle 



92 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

Peter, and upon him the gift to work miracles had 
been bestowed. He used this gift in the same way 
that the apostle used the gift, and doubtless his 
message was identical with that of the apostle's. 
The sequel shows that he had given to the Samar- 
itans the command to be baptized, for the record 
says when they believed Philip's preaching they were 
baptized. He evidently preached the facts of the gos- 
pel ; namely, the death of Jesus Christ for their sins ; 
his burial and resurrection, and when they believed 
his message he commanded them, doubtless, to repent 
and be baptized. The record is elliptical, mention- 
ing merely that Philip preached, the people believed 
and were baptized, but we have no difficulty in sup- 
plying the omitted links in the chain, when we under- 
stand the necessary steps in conversion, the com- 
mands of Peter on two previous occasions, and 
further taking into account the facts that Philip 
must have gotten his message from the apostles. 
We may also safely conclude that Philip promised 
them the gift of the Holy Spirit, and that they re- 
ceived it as did the Jews on Pentecost. 

II. The next prominent feature of this interest- 
ing case is the impartation of the Holy Spirit by 
laying on of hands. 

The account says that when the apostles heard 
that the Samaritans had received the Word of God, 
they sent unto them Peter and John, "who, when 
they were come down, prayed for them that they 
might receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet it was fallen 
upon none of them." Does this mean that the Sa- 
maritans had not received the gift of the Spirit upon 
their baptism? 

In order to have a clear understanding of this 



TWO SPIRITUAL ENDOWMENTS 93 

case, we must keep in mind that there are two dis- 
tinct endowments of the Holy Spirit spoken of; one 
is the gift of the Spirit, carrying with it miraculous 
power which was conferred upon individuals from 
time to time throughout the Jewish dispensation, 
and in the early history of the Christian Church. 
This gift Christ had in all its fullness, and the dis- 
ciples exercised it during the personal ministry of 
Christ, and during the planting of the church. It 
was given for a confirmatory purpose. But there 
was another spiritual endowment which Christ said 
would not be given until after he had ascended to 
heaven, and this, Christ said, would be such a great 
blessing that it would more than make good for the 
loss of his personal presence. He declared, "It is 
expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not 
away the Comforter will not come." Now this gift 
of the Spirit was not to be special, but to be enjoyed 
by all the family of believers, for Peter, in his first 
sermon, said: "Repent, and be baptized every one 
of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remis- 
sion of your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of 
the Holy Spirit; for to you is the promise, and to 
your children, and to all that are afar off, even as 
many as the Lord our God shall call unto him." 
Now, doubtless, it was the miraculous gift of the 
Spirit that the Samaritans had not received before 
the coming of Peter and John, because Philip, doubt- 
less, did not have the power to confer it. We have 
no record of any person other than the apostles 
conferring this power, and it was doubtless the pur- 
pose of God to grant to at least some of these Sa- 
maritans the power to work miracles, as he granted 
it to the early disciples in order that they might 



94 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

assist in the establishment of the kingdom. They 
doubtless enjoyed the indwelling presence of the 
Spirit, immediately upon their baptism, which is 
not a miracle-working power, but a comforting and 
sustaining power. 

The conveying of the Spirit through the lay- 
ing on of hands was doubtless exercised by the 
apostles with discrimination. We are not to assume 
that every disciple in the apostolic church received 
this gift. We do not know that all the Samaritan 
Christians received this gift. That the gift was 
intended for a special purpose is clear, and it was 
doubtless conferred upon those who, in the divine 
wisdom, were suited to exercise it, and were called 
to do a special work in the establishment of the 
kingdom of God. 

III. Next comes prominently to view the con- 
version and apostacy of Simon, the sorcerer. 

1. It is a question of interest as to whether 
Simon was really converted under the preaching of 
Philip. The account says, "Simon also himself be- 
lieved, and being baptized he continued with Philip/' 
There is no intimation that his conversion was not a 
genuine one. There is no indication that it dif- 
fered in any way from the conversion of other Sa- 
maritans. It w^ould rather seem that the thing hap- 
pened to Simon that has happened to many another 
man who starts out well in the Christian life ; he 
apostatized. He allowed his love of money to get 
the better of him. Having been accustomed to prac- 
tice sorcery for gain, and seeing, through the laying 
on of the apostles' hands, miraculous power was 
conferred, he concluded that he could use this power 
for his own selfish, pecuniary advantage, and there- 



THE CASE OF SIMON THE SORCERER 95 

fore proposed to purchase it. This would indicate 
that all of the Samaritans had not received this power 
through the laying on of hands. Simon, and doubt- 
less others, had been omitted in the conferring of 
this gift, and he coveted the power that he saw 
others exercising. 

He made two mistakes : First, in supposing that 
this gift of God which had been placed in the hands 
of Peter and John, could be purchased with money. 
This is not the last time that this mistake has been 
made. In the days of Martin Luther, those who 
claimed to be the representatives of God offered to 
sell divine favors for money, and this really led to 
the Reformation of the sixteenth century. 

Simon made his second mistake in supposing that 
the divine gift may be used for purely personal and 
selfish ends. God's gift to individuals, whether or- 
dinary or extraordinary, are never for the sake of 
the individual alone, but rather for the sake of the 
many, to whom the individual is expected to min- 
ister. When a man uses any power that God has 
given, for his own aggrandizement rather than for 
the advantage and blessing of his fellow-man, he 
makes the mistake into which Simon the sorcerer fell. 

2. Here we discover the means appointed for 
the pardon of the Christian man who sins. God has 
made baptism the condition on which he will pardon 
the sins of the alien, provided it be preceded by 
faith and repentance. Peter told Simon to repent 
and pray in order that the wicked thought of his 
heart might be forgiven him. Simon, having become 
a disciple of the Lord Jesus by believing Philip's 
message and obeying his command, now must re- 
ceive pardon, not by being baptized again, but 



96 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

through repentance and prayer, and this is the rule 
for every Christian man who seeks the forgiveness 
of God for his sins and shortcomings, and we are 
told that Jesus Christ sits as a mediator and inter- 
cessor between us and God. All this is beautifully' 
clear and simple. The alien sinner who desires to 
come into the family of God must enter by the means 
divinely ordained. Thus entering, he enjoys the 
forgiveness of all past sins. Thenceforward, he has 
an advocate with God the Father, whom he ap- 
proaches through repentance and prayer, and thus 
receives the forgiveness of his sins. 

3. The question is sometimes asked, "Is it wrong 
for the alien sinner to pray for pardon?" I unhesi- 
tatingly answer, "No." For the prayer of an earnest 
soul who recognizes his lost condition is spontaneous ; 
you can not keep men convicted of sin, and per- 
suaded of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, from 
praying. Cornelius prayed, and his prayer went up 
as a memorial before God. It is wrong, however, 
to tell the alien sinner that his sin will be pardoned 
through prayer, when God has clearly laid down the 
terms upon which he will receive and pardon him. 
Do not blame the penitent alien when he prays, but 
rather blame the would-be religious guide, who fails 
to give him the plain terms upon which God prom- 
ises to forgive him. To keep a believing penitent 
on his knees for weeks and months, as has often 
been done, instead of declaring to him the plain 
terms of forgiveness laid down by the apostle, is an 
awful mistake. May we not say, it is a sin before 
God because it has driven many a man into skep- 
ticism, and, in some cases, into insanity? There is 
no reason why a man who believes on the Lord 



CASES OF CONVERSION EXAMINED AGREE 97 

Jesus Christ and repents should remain unpardoned 
for a single hour. 

In conclusion, we may say that, so far as the 
record goes, there is no indication that the conver- 
sion of the Samaritans differed, in any way, from 
the cases examined in the two previous chapters. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
The Conversion of the Eunuch. 

Read Acts 8:26:40, preparatory to the study. 

Text. — Acts 8:36-39: "And as they went on the way, they 
came unto a certain water ; and the eunuch saith, Behold, here 
is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? and he com- 
manded the chariot to stand still ; and they both went down 
into the water, both Philip and the ennuch; and he baptized 
him." 

It was the habit of the Oriental people to read 
aloud and gesticulate, and this fact explains how 
Philip could know what the eunuch was reading.* 
We may,, incidentally, get a hint here that may be 
of value to us. Jewish teachers, we are told, required 
students to read aloud. There is a proverb that "The 
words of truth give life to them that utter them 
forth/' I have found that in reading passages aloud, 
ideas have come to me, not seen before. I am also 
convinced that reading aloud contributes greatly to 
memory. 

We have in this case a clear example of 
gospel conversion. Is there a providential element 
here? How did Philip happen to meet the chariot? 
They were traveling almost in the same direction. 
If the chariot had passed a half hour earlier, or if 
Philip had arrived a half hour later, the meeting 
would not have occurred. While we believe the 
age of miracles is now past, yet let us not lose 



*Parker's Apostolic Life, Vol. I., p. 212. 
98 



MEETING OF PHILIP AND THE EUNUCH 99 

sight of the superintending providence of God; other- 
wise there would be no room for prayer. 

In bringing Philip and the chariot together there 
seems to be nothing resembling miracle, yet there 
was something we may reasonably call divine prov- 
idence. True, the angel of the Lord sent Philip in a 
certain direction, and the Spirit directed him to join 
himself to the chariot, but how easy to miss the 
chariot without the divine providence concerning 
which nothing is said. 

There are many similar incidents in life. We 
call them accidents, but who shall say how far the 
hand of God operates in the apparent accidents of 
life? I fear many of us are living too far away from 
God. We are living too much by accident or chance. 
We fail to recognize God's gracious dealings with 
us in the every-day routine of life. Would we not 
be stronger for our work if we felt that God was 
overseeing and shaping the events of our lives? 

I. It will be profitable to study this Ethiopian 
nobleman as an inquirer.* 

1. He was a bewildered inquirer, but he seems 
to have been in the bewilderment of honest inquiry. 
The usual method of Bible study is calculated to 
produce this perplexity. But how could it be other- 
wise here? Reading the Old Testament without the 
light of the New Testament, is a perplexing busi- 
ness. Christ is the key to all mysteries in the Bible. 
Give Christ the place in the Book that he ought to 
occupy, and the character that he claims, and you 
have gone far toward eliminating difficulty. If 
Christ himself is a difficulty, you have at least done 
this much : You have traded a thousand smaller 



*See Apostolic Life, Vol. I., pp. 212-217. 



100 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

difficulties for one large one, just as you have traded 
a thousand mysteries in our world for one great 
mystery when you accept God.* 

Some men seem to take a pride in their doubts 
and perplexities. It is sometimes a kind of vanity 
with men to speak of their difficulties. They seem 
to say, "My mind is so critical that I can not accept 
the teaching as others do. I require more evidence; 
I am bewildered because of my exacting mind. I 
must have more proof than the average man." This 
is no less disgusting than foolish. 

2. He was, however, a teachable inquirer; he 
seems to have said, "I wonder what that means?" 
A most beautiful trait is this ; one of the first char- 
acteristics of honesty. To be stubborn, dogmatical, 
conceited, is to deprive oneself of the gift of knowl- 
edge. To be teachable is a lovely thing. How few 
are teachable; many go to the Bible to find proof 
of what they already believe. Such persons can 
always find what they are looking for. The humble, 
teachable mind is a thing to be coveted. The mind 
that can empty itself and say when it approaches 
the Bible, "I will accept what this book says, and 
not try to twist it to suit my preconceived opinions," 
is the mind that is in a condition to discover great 
truths. 

3. He was not a traditionalist. In this he dif- 
fered from the Jews as a class. The Jews believed 
what was handed down to them. There is much of 
this to-day. Do not dignify this with the term 
"faith." Such persons are not students. If it were 
not for this tendency, many doctrines would not live 



*Parker's People's Bible, Vol. on Genesis, chapter on "God 
the Explanation of All Things." 



THE EUNUCH AS AN ENQUIRER 101 

an hour. It is surprising how many Christian people 
believe and practice what has been handed to them 
without thought or investigation on their own part. 
It is well to reverence the past. It is folly to 
imagine that doctrines should be discarded simply 
because they are old. This is equivalent to saying 
that there is nothing fixed ; that all beliefs should 
be held subject to change or revision. Perish the 
thought. It is equally foolish to blindly accept 
whatever is transmitted to us simply because it is 
hoary with age. There is hoary falsehood as well 
as hoary truth. "Prove all things; hold fast that 
which is good," is a wise maxim. 

4. He was furthermore an obedient inquirer. He 
did not hesitate. He did not stop to say, "I am 
not fit." He did not pause to count the cost. This 
keeps back many to-day. They can't pay the price. 
The man who hears, believes, and still hesitates, 
trifles with self, God and man. This man said, 
"What hinders?" Nothing. Sometimes the church 
gets up hindrances. Woe to the church that does 
so. Sometimes sinners are told they can do nothing. 
That they must wait until God gets ready to save 
them. This is a slander on God. The gospel has 
only words of welcome. It says, "Come;" "Now is 
the accepted time;" "To-day is the day of salvation/' 
If there are any hindrances in the way, rest assured 
they are man-made. Let every one know that when he 
is ready, there is absolutely no hindrance on God's 
side. Sometimes sinners themselves create the 
hindrances. They trifle with conscience and with 
God, because of many imaginary obstacles. This is 
all supreme folly. There is nothing that should 
hinder a conscientious, convinced man for a moment. 

(8) 



102 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

II. Let us next look at this man in the light of a 
hearer. 

1. He was a prepared hearer; he had been care- 
fully perusing God's Word. In this he differed from 
many, in and out of the church. You can not get 
the average Christian to study God's Word at home 
or at church. How different is the preacher's work 
in this day ; he has to coax men to hear, persuade 
them to listen. The average hearer comes merely 
for entertainment, or to comply with custom. As a 
consequence, the sermon must be squeezed into the 
smallest limit. A good teacher in astronomy, math- 
ematics or history insists on having at least one 
hour to teach his lesson. When men come fresh 
from the daily paper or from the sensational novel,, 
what can you expect? They are angry when they 
come, and every moment you detain them, makes 
them more so. I am not going to lay all the blame 
on the pew ; often the pulpit has been made the place 
for dry essays on theology. This is a miserable 
farce ; the men who get the audiences and hold them,, 
are the men who feed the people. The other extreme 
is, a little poetry, a little sentiment, a few anecdotes; 
anything, in fact, that does not demand thought. 
This is the modern substitute, in many cases, for 
the gospel message. The church can very soon 
correct this. Stand firm against such demands. Ask 
for bread and be satisfied with nothing else. And let 
those who know bread when they see it decide this 
question. God speed the day when the pulpit shall 
not be prostituted to small ends, when it shall not 
be made a mere lecture platform whose chief end is 
entertainment; but rather when it shall be a place 
where the Bread of Life is dispensed to the famish- 



THE EUNUCH AS A HEARER 103 

ing multitudes. I firmly believe that the man who 
will feed the people with the bread that comes down 
from heaven, will always have plenty of people to 
feed. Those who entertain men may shine for an 
hour as a passing meteor, but those who feed men 
will shine like the fixed stars in the firmament. 

2. He was a responsive hearer; he not only re- 
ceived, but gave back, which is a condition of growth. 
Doubtless his manner and attitude was responsive. 
The sequel shows he was responsive to the instruc- 
tion. To hear well is a divine accomplishment. 
When this is lacking, all ends in failure. Grandest 
thoughts and noblest utterances are wasted on an 
indifferent hearer. If you do not intend to listen, 
do not go to church. The house of God is not the 
place to entertain company or to be entertained 
by company. Do not refuse attention or ^demand 
amusement ; do not disgrace yourself and those to 
whom you are bound by ties of friendship or 
blood by showing that your mind is so illy dis- 
ciplined that you can not control it, or your heart 
so perverted that you no longer possess the feelings 
of a true man or woman. If there is one thing that 
Christian people should rise up and demand, it is 
that those who attend the house of God shall treat 
it respectfully, and they should see to it that their 
own children are not flagrant transgressors in this 
regard. 

3. He became a converted hearer. Do not 
always blame the preacher if men are not converted. 
The material on which the preacher has to work 
has much to do with results. We forget this. While 
salvation is theoretically and even potentially within 
the reach of all, yet many a man has so impaired 



104 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

his intellectual and moral nature that he has made 
it very hard for the gospel message to reach him. 
Intellectual habits have been formed and fixed that 
well-nigh shut him out from the highest fields of 
truth. When he is converted it is more the result 
01 a passing emotion than of true enlightenment and 
conviction. It was not so here. This man was an 
enlightened and convinced convert. This is not al- 
ways the case. Some act from impulse, some from 
policy or expediency. Notice, too, in this connection, 
the enlightened convert is an exultant convert, a 
rejoicing convert, a useful convert. God can use 
such a man for high ends. 

III. Let us now study the elements that enter 
into a Bible conversion. 

1. Preaching seems to have been the first thing 
necessary; Philip preached. How this drops into 
the sacred harmony: "Go, preach the gospel." "God 
hath chosen that the Gentiles should hear the words 
of the gospel and believe." "Faith comes by hearing/' 
Modern theology is woefully at fault here. It teaches 
that conversion is the direct act of the Holy Spirit. 
True, the Holy Spirit is spoken of as having done 
certain things which we should keep in mind: (1) 
It qualified the apostles, guided them into all truth. 

(2) It convicted the world of sin in rejecting Christ. 

(3) It established Christ's righteousness. (4) It con- 
demned Satan. (5) It was given as comforter to 
the obedient believer. (6) It acted on the sinner, 
as in this case, through the Word preached, and as 
it always does. Faith comes by hearing. The Word 
o 4 " God is the sword of the Spirit. This is the Spirit's 
method of reaching the sinner. Those who claim 
that the Holy Spirit acts directly on the heart of the 



ELEMENTS IN CONVERSION 105 

sinner to convert him, are guilty of a strange incon- 
sistency when they preach to men. Oftentimes the 
practice of men is better than their theory, as in 
this case. 

2. The man heard the gospel and believed it. 
Here is the great work of the preacher now. To 
preach with such earnestness and simplicity that 
men will believe, is a gift to be coveted. To pray 
God to send converting power is misleading. It 
creates the impression that God is indifferent. It 
implies that the power is not here, and leads to the 
conclusion that the power acts independently. All 
this is wrong. The gospel is the power of God unto 
salvation. Let us pray for power to so preach it 
that it will have its proper effect. 

3. The believing man obeyed the gospel. How 
did he know anything about baptism? Evidently 
Philip preached it. Why did Philip preach baptism? 
Because his commission required it. The gospel con- 
sists not only of facts to be believed, but of com- 
mands to be obeyed. Those who leave out some of 
the commands of the gospel are assuming a fearful 
responsibility. In closing up the revelation, the 
writer says, "If any man shall take away from the 
words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take 
away his part from the tree of life, and out of the 
holy city, and from the things which are written in 
this book." Let it not be said this means from the 
Book of Revelation only. Is the Word of God more 
sacred in the last Book of the Bible than elsewhere? 

This case of conversion harmonizes with every 
example of New Testament conversion. The act of 
baptism is always the consummating step. It brings 



106 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

us, if prepared by faith and repentance, into the fam- 
ily. We are baptized into Christ. 

Says one, "I believe a man is converted before 
baptism." What do you mean by conversion? 
Change of heart? Then it is true, but this is only a 
part of the process. The full process requires 
change of state, and this requires baptism ; therefore, 
a completely converted man is a baptized man. 

IV. Let us notice a few very important lessons 
which this case of conversion teaches. 

1. It shows how much knowledge is needed in 
order to become a Christian. A man in the apostolic 
day could learn enough in one sermon to become a 
member of the church of Christ. In a conversation 
while riding in a chariot, the necessary knowledge 
could be acquired. 

2. It shows how soon baptism may be admin- 
istered. A person could believe, repent, and be bap- 
tized, the same hour. There is no case under the 
apostolic ministry where baptism was deferred. Is 
not much of modern practice at fault here? 

3. It shows how baptism is properly admin- 
istered. If the Bible writer had had the modern 
practice of affusion in view, he could not have con- 
demned it in a clearer way than in the account given 
here. "They came to the water ;" "They went down 
into the water;'' "Both Philip and the eunuch;" 
"They came up out of the water." Strange proce- 
dure, if the water was put upon the candidate by 
sprinkling or pouring. 

4. It shows how sudden a conversion may be. 
It takes just long enough to hear the gospel, believe 
it, and obey it. 

5. It shows the position given to joy. It comes 



A NEW MAN 107 

after obedience, not before it. Here is the logical 
place for joy. Let us rejoice because we know we 
are Christians, and not rather offer some ecstatic 
feeling as the evidence of the fact. There is no such 
joy as this. Consciousness of duty done and sins 
forgiven is the greatest cause for joy. 

Look into the chariot! What do you behold? 
Is it the same man? No, it is a new man we see 
now. His bewilderment is gone. He rejoices in 
God. There is nothing so grand as this ; a new man 
with new motives, purposes and desires, is the 
grandest being under heaven because he has his face 
set toward the highest destiny. 



CHAPTER IX. 
The Conversion of SauL* 

Read Acts 9 : 1-22 to get the whole incident before the mind. 

Text. — Acts 9 : 17, 18 : "And Ananias departed, and entered 
into the house; and laying his hands on him, said; Brother 
Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, who appeared unto thee in the way 
as thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy 
sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And straightway 
there fell from his eyes as it were scales ; and he received his 
sight, and he arose, and was baptized." Acts 22 : 16 : "And 
now, why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized, and wash 
away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.'' This 
is Paul's account of the circumstance. 

1. Saul, no doubt, thought he had a special mis- 
sion to exterminate heresy. In this he was like many 
others both before and since his day. He was 
willing to act as judge and jury, and in this, too, 
he is not without company. The prison, rack and 
stake w^ere the instruments of conversion in which 
he had most faith. He thought that ideas could be 
burned or beaten into men. So, many have thought, 
and have acted according^; nor has our twentieth 
century outgrown these ideas. The vulgar instru- 
ments of the rack and stake have been displaced by 
more refined methods of cruelty, especially in recent 
times, but the compulsion has been no less complete 
and effectual. When the workman has been com- 
pelled to vote for the candidates and policies of his 
employer, or face starvation for himself and family 

* See Parker's Apostolic Life on Acts 9. 

108 



CONVERSION BY FORCE 109 

through loss of employment, it is merely a new 
application of the same old doctrine — conversion by 
force. When those who endow institutions of learn- 
ing compel professors to teach economic doctrines, 
with which they have no sympathy, or lose their 
positions, it is simply a modern way of applying the 
old hateful principle of conversion by compulsion. 
It is all antichristian, and deserves the condemnation 
of every right-minded man. 

2. We have in this Scripture an account of how 
Saul was converted, and, if we are to accept his own 
estimate of himself, how one of the worst of men 
was converted. It is interesting to compare this con- 
version with that of Cornelius, who was one of the 
best of men. Saul, before his conversion to Chris- 
tianity, was doubtless a moral man. He was a 
strict adherent of a religion that taught a very high 
and exacting morality. He said that prior to his 
conversion he lived in all good conscience ; yet after 
his conversion, in measuring his former self with 
the standards of Christianity, he called himself the 
chief of sinners. Some things that he had formerly 
done under the sanction of conscience, he looked 
upon as heinous sins. 

I. I desire first to study this case, as it is often 
presented, as a sudden conversion. 

1. There are two views regarding this matter. 
Some do not believe in sudden conversions, and some 
think every conversion is sudden. The account given 
throws light on the subject: "As he journeyed it 
came to pass that he drew nigh unto Damascus, 
and suddenly there shone around about him a light 
out of heaven; and he fell to the earth and heard a 
voice saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" 



110 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

There is something very sudden in this case, with- 
out doubt. Faith and change of heart were suddenly 
brought about. I think it is true matter of 

. :. that some persons are suddenly converted and 
some are not. Le: as be very careful to see why 
this is so and gather the lesson. 

2. An analysis 3f conversion will enable us to 
keep what is possible in our minds. Conversio:. 
not simply an exercise of divine power: if so, it 
might be slow or sudden, depending wholly upon 
the action of God. But the sinner is not passive in 
conversion, but active: he co-operates with God. 

(1) There is first belief to be created., or the 
development of faith. This results from evidence or 
teaching. "Faith comes by hearing." This change 
of belief may exist where other elements of conver- 
sion are lacking. Hundreds have their belief changed 
who are never converted. Persons who halt at this 
point arrest the process of conversion : it may be 
temporarily, or it may be permanently. Any min- 

:er of the gospel can recall many cases of this 
J that have fallen under his own observation. In 
truth, such people abound in every community, which 
is a fact to be deplored. Xo man can believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ and stop at that point, without 
doing himself an irreparable injury. There is no surer 
way assassinate the moral faculty than to refuse 
to act on conviction. Furthermore, faith, to which 
the proper expression is not given, will eventually 
die. 

(2) There must also be change of purpose. This 
does not always follow from change of belief, and 
hence not every one who believes converted. Faith 

in a measure, independent of will. Mere mental 



CONVERSION ANALYZED 111 

assent, and this is an element of Christian faith, 
often can not be withheld. The testimony may be 
so strong as to compel belief, but when it comes to 
repentance, the case is different. Change of life, 
purpose, as respects sin, is entirely under the con- 
trol of the will of the individual, and this makes 
delay possible. That there is an element of faith 
involving the affections, that is under the control 
of the will, is also true. This explains why some 
who intellectually believe are never converted, or if 
at all, why the process is slow. Men will not be 
converted. 

(3) Then there must be change of state or 
relation. This, too, is under the control of the 
human will. God can not change the state or rela- 
tion of the individual without his consent; he must 
comply with the terms prescribed. Here, then, is 
another chance for delay. 

These three changes are involved in every true 
conversion. Each of these changes accomplishes a 
certain result. Change of belief, or faith, purifies the 
heart. Change of purpose, or repentance, changes the 
life. Baptism changes the state. 

Now can all this be accomplished suddenly? I 
answer both Yes and No ! Time enough has to be 
given to state the proposition to be believed; that is, 
to preach the gospel. Then, in some cases, the con- 
version will be sudden, and in others slow. Some 
weigh and decide quickly; others reach conclusions 
very slowly. When belief is changed, the remainder 
ought to be very rapid, but it is not always the case. 
Some act from principle or conviction, others from 
policy or expediency. It takes some people months, 
some but a brief time. With people of a certain 



112 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

mental temper and disposition, an hour is sufficient 
for the accomplishment of the whole process. 

3. Let us consider Saul's case and we will better 
understand it. 

A slow conversion was impossible in this in- 
stance. Herein we see the harmony in the gospel 
record. He could never trifle with conviction. To 
believe, with him, was to act. Saul already believed 
some things. He knew Jesus had died and was 
buried. He simply needed faith in the resurrection. 
Suddenly Jesus appeared to him and he believed. He 
was of such disposition and make-up that he sud- 
denly changed his purpose, and this was followed by 
obedience, as soon as the proper person was found 
to administer baptism. That some days intervened, 
is true, which, in the divine wisdom, was doubtless 
necessary in this individual case. The preacher went 
to complete the process of Saul's conversion when 
God sent him. In other cases of conversion recorded 
the baptism followed change of purpose immediately. 

II. I desire next to study this instance, as it is 
sometimes presented, as a case of miraculous con- 
version, and also as manifesting the power of the 
gospel. 

1. In every conversion there are general and spe- 
cial characteristics. In some respects, every con- 
version is a model of every other ; in other respects, 
it is unlike any other. Some wish to be converted 
like Saul. All will, in general aspects, but not in 
special. How was Paul's mind changed? How was 
his faith produced? By evidence. So must every 
one's mind be changed. This change of mind led 
him to change his purpose, and this led to changed 
relation. The purpose and relation of every con- 



THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 113 

verted man must be changed in the same way. 
There was a special element here which was mirac- 
ulous. Evidence was miraculously given, but this 
was special and peculiar, as the purpose will show. 
Jesus said to Saul : "I have appeared unto thee, to 
appoint thee a minister and a witness both of the 
things wherein thou hast seen me, and of the things 
wherein I will appear unto thee ;* delivering thee from 
the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom I send 
thee, to open their* eyes, that they may turn from 
darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto 
God." In other words, Christ appeared to Saul to 
make him an apostle. He must needs be a witness 
of the resurrection to be an apostle ; hence Jesus ap- 
pears to him that he might be able to say, "I saw 
Christ after he rose from the dead." The conclusion 
is inevitable that the miraculous part was peculiar. 
It did not even assure Saul of pardon. This was 
bestowed in obedience to the command of Ananias. 
A study of the New Testament conversions shows 
that the miraculous in every case was special. The 
general aspects are the same in all. I think our 
treatment of the conversions clearly brings this out. 
If people would study conversion as a psychological 
process, rather than under the bias of a preconceived 
theory, grievous mistakes would be avoided. It is 
strange that it is only in religious conversion that 
people go astray. In other forms of conversion, no 
mistake is made. For example, the national allegi- 
ance of an individual is changed by faith produced 
by testimony, by repentance or change of mind 
respecting the government under which the indi- 
vidual has lived and purposes to live, and by a com- 
pliance with the terms imposed for changing political 



114 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

relations. This is all very simple. It is equally 
clear and simple in the religious domain, when prop- 
erly viewed. If too much stress seems to be placed 
upon this question in this discussion, it is because a 
beautifully simple, logical and psychological process 
has been so mystified by popular teaching that ut- 
terly false notions concerning it have come to prevail. 

After Saul had been convinced, by the miraculous 
appearing of Jesus and his testimony concerning 
himself, he changed his mind respecting the life 
he had been leading, as is evident from the question, 
"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" The next 
step was his baptism in obedience to the command 
of Ananias, thus making his conversion conform to 
the normal and necessary process. 

2. We have here a striking example of the 
power of the gospel. Consider Saul's character. 
Who is he? A Jew of ancient pedigree, a Pharisee, 
a student and a scholar. There lay within him 
power to do almost any great work that any man 
ever did ; he could have led armies or ruled empires. 
He was a great orator, a profound scholar, and an 
acute thinker. He possessed a high order of genius. 
There is a great difference in the quality of men. 
To convert Saul was to convert a host. This gives 
us a striking illustration of the mighty moral force 
in the gospel. A system that can take hold of 
men in all conditions, ranging from the lowest 
condition of ignorance and degradation to the highest 
point of intellectual and moral advancement, can not 
have originated with man. The universality of the 
religion of Christ is a strong argument for its 
divinity. No human system shows such adaptability. 



THE TRUE FRUITS OF CONVERSION 115 

Human religions are, always and everywhere, race or 
class religions. 

Incidentally a great lesson may be learned by the 
sending of Saul to Ananias. When Jesus appeared 
to Saul, why did he not command him to be bap- 
tized? There must have been a reason. Is it not 
found in the fact that Jesus had given the commis- 
sion to men to preach the gospel, and that conse- 
quently he will not relieve them from the obligation 
even in a single case? He will appear to Paul to 
make him a witness of his resurrection, but he will 
not do that which he has commissioned man to do, 
and which man is competent to perform. 

III. This case also shows us an example of the 
true fruits of conversion. 

1. The meaning of the word "convert" — "to turn 
about" — indicates the true idea, and shows us how 
we may be able to test true conversion. If a man's 
face is set in the same direction after conversion as 
it was before, the man is not converted. Some say 
God alone can tell who are converted. This is a 
great mistake. In most cases, everybody can tell. 
The converted man is going in the opposite direc- 
tion from that in which he was traveling before con- 
version. He is a turned-around man. Paul was a 
turned man. 

2. Notice that Saul started out to persecute, but 
soon he is found praying.* We read, "And Saul 
yet breathing out slaughter;" anon we read, "Be- 
hold, he prayeth" — wonderful transformation. Paul 
had always been a praying man, in one sense, yet, in 
another, he had never prayed. Prayer is an agency 
which the Christian alone can use effectively. Christ 



*Apostolic Life, Vol. L, pp. 236, 237. 



116 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

is our Mediator. This is no uncommon sight. We 
have all seen persons pass from fierceness to gentle- 
ness, from drunkenness to sobriety, from wickedness 
to righteousness. This is what Christianity under- 
takes to do. It turns men around, just as Saul was 
turned from persecution to gentleness. 

3. Also notice when Saul was a Pharisee, he per- 
secuted; when he became a Christian he sought to 
change men by persuading and proving; in short, by 
argument. Before conversion he sought to exter- 
minate heresy by violence. We might conclude that 
after conversion he would persecute the other side. 
Notice, however, the change ; standing before the 
opposers, he reasons mightily and contends, proving 
that Jesus is the Christ. This is as it should be. 
All the persecuting spirit is gone. Why did he not 
try this method with the Christians before? Simply 
because he was not converted. Entreaty and sup- 
plication are the Christian's sword and dagger. 
"Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." 

Some Conclusions. 

1. It must be evident that Saul's conversion was 
like all the others we have examined in its general 
features. Paul believed, repented and was baptized, 
and thereby his heart, life and state were changed. 
This has been made clear above, but to repeat it may 
not be amiss, since the conversion of Saul has been 
used by the advocates of miraculous conversion as 
an example of their contention. 

2. We see from this case that Christianity is a 
moral plea. Hence to persecute is to be disloyal to 
Christ. Christianity addresses the reason, judgment. 
You can not make men good by force of arms. 



LESSONS FROM SAUL'S CONVERSION 117 

3. Paul went a long journey from Jerusalem to 
Damascus. The moral journey was longer — from 
persecuting to praying. Here is the perpetual mir- 
acle of Christianity. It has been witnessed in every 
age. 

4. Here the contrast between strength and weak- 
ness is seen. Saul, at first, is strong, boastful, proud; 
next, he is led by the hand like a child. Saul's 
strength was but weakness when he measured 
swords with God. Woe unto the strength that is 
purely human. When Saul was prostrate his con- 
dition was more hopeful, for out of such weakness 
may come a greater strength. Paul really was never 
so strong as when led by the hand, because now 
his strength was in God. When will men learn that 
he only is strong whose strength is multiplied by 
the power of God? 

5. Here is an example of how a truly honest, 
conscientious man will act. Paul was no temporizer. 
He never counted the cost when duty was involved. 
"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" no disposi- 
tion to wait and consider. He says, "Immediately I 
conferred not with flesh and blood. " Evidently Jesus 
knew his man when he picked his last apostle. 

6. Paul was an educated man. Is there any 
lesson in this fact? May we not learn that Chris- 
tianity needs trained minds for leadership? When 
Jesus was here on earth he spent his time very 
largely in the training or educating of men for his 
work. He gave the commission to men educated 
tinder his own teaching. After he left the earth, and 
could no longer give his personal attention to the 
training of men, he picked a trained mind for the 
additional apostle needed. 

(9) 



118 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

What can be done to lead the impenitent to 
Christ? Miracle-working power is not needed, for 
it could not be lawfully used to turn men to a Chris- 
tian life. God has infinite power, but he will not 
use it to turn man against his will. He invites, en- 
treats, and then patiently stands and waits for him 
to deliberately choose to come. 

What dignity this places upon human nature. 
Man is too great a being to stay away from Christ. 
His possibilities are too great for him to jeopardize 
his chances. Why should any one delay a single 
hour? "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. '* 



CHAPTER X. 
The Conversion of Cornelius. 

Read Acts 10 : 25-48 as a preparation. 

Acts 10:34-36: "Of a truth I perceive that God is no re- 
specter of persons : but in every nation he that feareth God and 
worketh righteousness is accepted of him." 

1. Jesus, before leaving the world, said, "Go ye 
into all the world and preach the gospel to every 
creature. " This commission is in harmony with the 
whole revelation of God. Prophecy pointed to it. 
Several years have transpired since the commission 
was given, and yet no Gentile has been saved; at 
least, we have no record of any Gentile converts up 
to this time. This fact is significant. It shows the 
failure of the apostles of our Lord to understand 
the scope of the commission given to them. This 
would seem to have been an impossibility, but it 
only shows how hard it is for persons to grasp a 
great truth when it runs counter to their education 
and prejudices; the holding of American slaves is a 
case in point. The Declaration of Independence 
said, "We hold it to be self-evident that God has 
created all men free and equal. " Notwithstanding 
this statement, the American people tolerated slavery 
for almost a century after it was uttered, and it cost 
a million men and a billion dollars to give practical 
expression to it; such is the blindness of prejudice, 
especially when fortified by self-interest. 

2. This chapter gives the account of the first 

119 



120 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

Gentile convert, one of the greatest events of his- 
tory. We must keep this fact in mind in studying 
this chapter; otherwise all is obscure. "God made 
of one blood all nations that dwell on the face of 
the earth. " This has been a hard lesson for men to 
learn. The doctrines of aristocracy, race, class, caste, 
have become so deeply rooted in the minds of men 
that they seem almost to defy the power of God to 
uproot them. 

This incident, in view of all the circumstances, 
deserves to rank as one of the epoch-making events 
of the world. In the conversion of Cornelius we are 
facing one of the most interesting and instructive 
events recorded in the New Testament. It is the 
key-note in the gospel harmony. It is the interpreta- 
tive incident of the scope of the divine purpose. It 
sounds the death-knell of race and class exclusive- 
ness. This must be kept in mind to understand all 
the elements of this conversion. 

I. I am reminded by this chapter that the Bible 
is a wonderfully dramatic book.* 

Four chapters stand out prominently in this 
regard. 

1. The first chapter of Genesis is one. See what 
movement and excitement : worlds are made, veg- 
etable and animal life are created. What expectancy 
is awakened; something is going to happen to justify 
the marvelous activity. In four words the secret 
comes out: "Let us make man" — now all is clear. 
This is the fitting climax to it all. 

2. The first chapter of Matthew is the second. 
The same thing is repeated. There is movement, 

* See Parker's Apostolic Life on this chapter, to which I am 
indebted for some of the thoughts of the sermon. 






THE BIBLE A DRAMATIC BOOK 121 

excitement, urgency. Here is the explanatory clause : 
"And she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call 
his name Jesus, for it is he that shall save his people 
from their sins." It is impossible to stop one verse 
sooner in either chapter without missing the mean- 
ing. In the first instance, when man stands up we 
say, "That explains all the preparation." So here, 
One is called Emmanuel, Saviour; that meets the 
expectation aroused ; heaven and earth are united ; 
Divinity is married to humanity in the incarnation of 
God; the divine plan is at last complete. 

3. The second chapter of Acts is the third case. 
Here we have the same movement and excitement: 
Fire, tongues, wonderful speech arrest the attention. 
All is confusion until we read, "Repent, and be bap- 
tized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ 
unto the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive 
the gift of the Holy Spirit. ,, It is impossible to 
stop one whit sooner without leaving a conscious 
hiatus. We would feel that the speech had been 
broken off before its natural conclusion had been 
reached. When Divinity marries itself to humanity 
in the gift of the Holy Spirit, a conclusion is reached 
that fits the situation. There is this difference be- 
tween the spiritual endowment of Jesus and the 
gift of the Spirit promised by Peter. Jesus, being 
divine in nature, received the Holy Spirit without 
measure, that is, in an unlimited degree ; we, being 
human, receive the Spirit by measure, doubtless ac- 
cording to our ability. 

4. The tenth chapter of Acts is worthy to stand 
in this succession. Again, there is the same move- 
ment, the same wonderful manifestations. Some- 
thing extraordinary is going to happen. Here is the 



122 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

explanation : "Of a truth I perceive that God is no 
respecter of persons, but in every nation he that 
feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted 
of him." This explains all. This broadside from 
heaven's batteries sweeps away the doctrine of un- 
conditional election. Now, for the first time, the 
barriers are broken down. The world waited long 
for this. We might know what was coming by the 
teaching of Christ: "What shall it profit if a man 
should gain the whole world and lose his life?" The 
old version says "soul/' and the context shows that 
this more nearly expresses the thought. The human 
soul is the unit of value, and that, too, apart from 
any adventitious or ennobling circumstances. It is 
remarkable that this utterance of Peter was put into 
the mouth of one who belonged to the most exclu- 
sive race of the time. If this had come from a 
Reman it would have been far less surprising; it 
took a miracle, or rather a series of miracles, to bring 
it forth from a Jew. 

II. Let us now consider the preparation leading 
up to the event. 

1. In life there is much preparation that leads 
to great events, and yet we are unconscious of it. 
No occasion ends with itself. There are no isolated 
events in life. To-morrow we reap the fruit of 
to-day's sowing, and yet we know not that we are 
sowing. Your going to church on some occasion 
may be your salvation. A chance acquaintance may 
determine your future. The book you read may 
change your life. The conversation with a friend 
may alter your destiny. These facts almost make us 
afraid to live. They certainly should admonish us 
to live our best. Truly, "Life is real, life is earnest." 



PREPARATION OF PETER 123 

2. See how marvelously Simon Peter was pre- 
pared. The last, verse of ninth chapter reads: "And 
it came to pass he tarried many days in Joppa with 
one Simon, a tanner." Peter's being sent to the 
tanner was not accidental. There was wonderful 
meaning in this. God takes us on little by little; 
first, Peter must lodge with the tanner. This was a 
despised calling in the minds of the Jews. The 
tanner was almost an outcast. He could not live in 
town, but must reside outside. God seems to be 
educating Peter by a gradual process. He is taking 
him one step at a time. One prejudice at a time is 
being removed. It is a long road from the house 
of the Jew to the house of the Gentile ; the house 
of the tanner was a sort of half-way place. God 
will now take Peter another step ; hence the vision 
showing Peter not to call anything common or 
unclean that God had cleansed. 

This is a human experience. In youth we do not 
want to die, but disappointments and hardships 
come; we are led a step at a time until finally we 
say, "I have a desire to depart and be at rest." If 
all we have to endure in life were revealed to us at 
once, doubtless we would give up in despair, but 
little by little the trials come and the endurance of 
each hardship nerves and strengthens us to meet 
successfully the next. 

3. Cornelius must also be prepared. An angel 
appeared and told him to send for Peter. Cornelius' 
vision served also to strengthen Peter. All this leads 
step by step to something more than ordinary. Here 
it is : "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter 
of persons." Peter, the Jew, is probably the last 
man to whom Cornelius would have applied for in- 



124 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

struction. Even if his own feelings had permitted 
it, the known prejudice of the Jewish race would 
have prevented it. When God works a miracle there 
is always sufficient cause for it. 

4. One more miracle was needed. While Peter 
yet spake the Holy Spirit came. Each had been 
prepared by a miracle. Now a miracle is wrought 
to convince the witnesses. Peter is performing an 
act for which he would be called to account. Jewish 
prejudice would not allow him to go into the house 
of a Gentile without protest, hence the necessity of 
witnesses, and of evidence by which they would be 
able to vindicate him. The witnesses having received 
indubitable testimony of the acceptance of the Gen- 
tiles with God, and Peter himself being fully con- 
vinced, he is now ready to administer baptism, yet 
he appeals to his brethren present to justify him: 
"Can any man forbid water that these should not be 
baptized, seeing they have received the Holy Spirit 
as well as we?" 

III. Now let us study the conversion and its 
attendant manifestations. 

1. Be it observed that this is the conversion of a 
moral man, hence moral life alone is not suffi- 
cient. Cornelius was a man of very high moral char- 
acter; he was benevolent, just, prayerful. Still he 
had to send for Simon Peter and hear words whereby 
he might be saved; he was moral and yet unsaved; 
a just man, and yet in a lost condition. How woe- 
fully this matter is misunderstood. Some refuse to 
believe that this can be true, and insist that morality 
alone is sufficient. 

2. The mistake grows out of a misconception 
of salvation. Salvation can not be merited. It is 



CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS 125 

not earned by something we do; it is not of works, 
but of grace. No man is free from sin, and man has 
nothing wherewith to purchase God's favor. Salva- 
tion involves pardon, and pardon is the gift of God, 
and this is obtained on God's terms. Hence to 
be saved a man must accept it as a matter of grace, 
and on God's plainly expressed conditions.* 

3. It is evident that the miraculous circumstances 
grew out of the special peculiarities. Cornelius was 
the first Gentile convert. All things begin in mir- 
acle. There are special reasons here. Prejudice must 
be overcome and witnesses prepared. This explains 
the angel's visit to Cornelius, the sheet let down, the 
outpouring of the Spirit ; three miracles for three dis- 
tinct purposes, as was shown above. It is very neces- 
sary to get a correct understanding of the work 
accomplished by the miraculous element in the con- 
versions recorded lest the conclusion be reached that 
miracle is a factor in all conversions. This would be 
a serious mistake, but, unfortunately, one that we 
have not escaped, much to the confusion and mystifi- 
cation of the whole subject. That our conclusions 
are right in this matter is shown by the fact that 
when Peter returned to Jerusalem he was taken to 
task for going in and eating with uncircumcised 
people, and he cited the miracles in vindication of his 
course. If men were willing to accept the Bible's 
own explanation of its miracles, much difficulty would 
be avoided. 

4. We must not confound the outpouring of the 
Spirit with the gift of the Spirit. The baptism of 
the Spirit at the household of Cornelius served spe- 



*For a fuller discussion see subsequent chapter on "The 
Great Invitation." 



126 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

rial purposes, as we have shown. It did not give 
evidence of pardon. The gift of the Spirit is a 
promise to be enjoyed by all Christians. Here, as 
on Pentecost, the miraculous gift or manifesta- 
tions of the Spirit, and the abiding gift promised to 
Christians, were seen in conjunction for special rea- 
sons, but we should be careful not to confound them. 
The miraculous manifestations of the Spirit passed 
away when they had accomplished their purpose in 
the introduction and establishment of the kingdom 
of God on earth. The abiding gift will continue 
until the end of time. We often hear people pray 
for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It were 
better to urge men to obey the commands of the 
gospel and promise the gift of the Spirit, which is 
the climax of divine grace. 

5. Eliminating the special and peculiar, we find 
that Cornelius' conversion was like all others ; he heard 
the gospel, believed the gospel, repented, was baptized. 
It required the same to save an ignorant Roman, 
or a prejudiced Jew, as was required in this case, and 
no more. Human nature is the same everywhere. 
It requires the same to-day as it required in the 
apostolic day to save a man from sin. We all need 
to learn the great lesson that Peter learned. 

How glib we talk about men being nothings, no- 
bodies, not worth saving. God had to teach Peter 
the great lesson of the value of a man. He said, 
"God hath showed me not to call any man common 
or unclean. " God would have us see a man in the 
creature, in every human being. We can not see 
very deep ; very superficial circumstances obscure our 
vision, but there is something deeper that God sees 
that is of great value. When Christ went to eat 



AN EXAMPLE OF SINCERITY 127 

with Zaccheus, men said, "He eateth with sinners*/' 
but Christ saw something of highest worth in the 
despised publican. Ch for the power to look deep 
beneath the surface and see in every man potentially 
a child of God. 

You, who are not Christians, show the sincerity 
Cornelius showed : "Now, therefore, we are all here 
present to hear all things commanded thee of God." 
He was also swift to obey when his duty was made 
clear. Will you not hear and obey Christ, and thus 
place yourself in the line of truest development and 
highest destiny? 



CHAPTER XL 
The Conversion of Lydia.* 

Reading, Acts 16 : 6-15. 

Text. — Acts 16: 14, 15: "And a certain woman named Lydia, 
a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one that worshipped 
God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened to give heed unto 
the things which were spoken by Paul. And when she was bap- 
tized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have 
judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and 
abide there. And she constrained us." 

1. Paul was a Spirit-led man. He never set up 
his judgment against the Divine will. When Jesus 
first appeared to him he said, "Lord, what wilt thou 
have me to do?" and the spirit of obedience never 
forsook him. In verse 7 we learn that he had 
planned to go into Bithynia, but when the Spirit 
directed otherwise, he was perfectly obedient. 

We notice, also, that Paul was very prompt in his 
obedience. At the time of his conversion this dis- 
position manifested itself. He says, in speaking of 
his call, "Immediately I conferred not with flesh 
and blood." When directed by the vision to go into 
Macedonia, he says, "Immediately we endeavored to 
go." No temporizing, no hesitancy, but obedience 
prompt and cheerful. God bless the man who is true 
to his God, true to his fellowman, true to himself. 
Such a man never puts off a duty. Such a man 
never counts the cost when duty is involved. 



* See Parker's Apostolic Life, Vol. II., pp. 142-148, for some 
of the suggestions elaborated in this chapter. 
128 



SOCIAL QUALITY OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 129 

2. This is the characteristic Christian spirit. Sal- 
vation consists in sinking the human will in the 
divine will. If you can not do this you are not 
saved. The will of God is the fountain of all order 
and blessedness. The trouble in the church to-day 
is that we are substituting our wills for God's will. 
Why is not every seat in the church filled on the 
Lord's Day? The answer is, many are substituting 
their own wills for God's will. They are doing what 
they want to do rather than what God wants them 
to do. This is the reason why multitudes remain 
out of the church ; they are unwilling to subordinate 
their will to the divine will. Not until people are 
willing to surrender to God and make his will 
supreme are they prepared to become citizens of 
the kingdom. "Thy people offer themselves will- 
ingly, in the day of thy power," the Psalmist de- 
clared, and people who do not offer themselves will- 
ingly for service, God can not use. 

I. The peculiar social quality of Christian wor- 
ship is revealed. 

1. The characteristic impulse of Christianity is 
to go forth. "On the sabbath day we went forth." 
If you can take your Christianity with you into a 
little room and lock the door and stay there com- 
fortably, you need to examine it carefully, I am 
afraid you have not got the genuine article ; I fear 
you have been imposed upon. If you can sit down 
in your own home with your wife and children when 
the Lord's Day comes, and feel comfortable and 
complacent, you have cause for alarm about the 
genuineness of your religion. True Christianity re- 
fuses to be shut up in one house. It has a social 
instinct that is never satisfied. No sooner does it 



130 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

occupy one field than it demands a larger one; put 
it into a heart and it demands the neighborhood. 
Put it into a town and it demands the State. Put 
it into a State and it demands the nation. Put it 
into the nation and it demands the world. If you 
do not feel this way, your Christianity is a sham. 

2. The words "home" and "family" are greater 
words than you imagine. The Christian home is a 
larger place than the little house you occupy. The 
Christian family is a larger company than any that 
dwells beneath one little roof. If you know the 
Christian meaning of "home" and "family" you will 
go forth like Paul when the Lord's Day comes. You 
will say, "I must find the place where the family 
meets ; I must sit at the family table to-day where 
my brothers and sisters are." Do you say you can 
sit down in your own little room and read your 
Bible, partake of your feast? No, no, my brother; 
your word "home" is too little ; it needs enlargement 
to come up to the Christian standard. Who can 
eat a feast alone? Who can enjoy a song if he alone 
hears it? Christianity never isolates men. If you 
can submit to isolation, you have lost the Christian 
spirit, or never had it. Brotherhood, fellowship, com- 
panionship, kingdom, church, assembly, one blood, 
all nations — such words constitute the terminology 
of the true Christian economy. 

II. The prominent part that woman is to play 
in the Christian dispensation is suggested. "They 
spake unto the women that resorted thither." 

1. Religion is good for women and children, is 
the skeptic's taunt. Does this gibe disturb you, cold- 
hearted, indifferent man? Do you despise the 
church because there are so many women in it? Do 



WOMAN'S PART IN CHRISTIANITY 131 

you say, "Men are giving up the church"? Many who 
think themselves wise, regard religion as a silly 
superstition that belongs to women and children, and 
ignorant people, and, with blatant speech, hurl their 
cutting epithets at the Church of Christ, that is 
dearer to the -Master than the apple of his eye. 
Because of this, some weak-minded, faint-hearted 
Christians hang their heads in shame, and for the 
same reason, many on the outside refuse to enter the 
church. Men who rail at the church in this way 
are blind and short-sighted, silly babblers, lacking 
in deep insight and wise discrimination — unworthy 
mockers, wanting in appreciation for the truest and 
noblest things in life. Such people are always in 
evidence. If you remain out of the church till all 
men speak well of it, you will never enter its sacred 
precincts. The religion of Christ has always been 
spoken against. Do not expect bad men to speak 
well of that which is a standing reproach to the 
lives they live. Do not expect Satan to approve of 
that which is set for his overthrow. Do not expect 
wickedness to approve of righteousness, darkness to 
approve of light, or the kingdom of Satan to ap- 
prove of the kingdom of God. Do not think that 
because men can find something to criticize in the 
church that there is justice in their contention. 

2. Let me try to set the case in its true light. 
You reproach the church because it is rilled with 
women. Let me point you to the rival institutions 
that are filled with men. Begin with the saloon ; is 
this your ideal institution? Here there is no lack of 
men. Now, let me point you to the gambling-den ; 
here the women you despise so much are conspicu- 
ously absent. Next go into the smoking-car; how 



132 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

do you like the surroundings? There are no women 
there. Next let us visit the penitentiary; ninety-eight 
in every hundred are men. Let me tell you a truth 
that all history will corroborate ; woman is the 
savior of society. Society is never stronger than its 
women. If you want to know what is right and 
pure, go and let your wife tell you. I would rather 
have her instincts than your logic. I count not those 
the friends of the race who despise noble woman- 
hood. Woman represents the love and patience of 
the world. Woman is the presiding genius of the. 
home. Why do you not despise it on that account? 
Woman is in the forefront of all moral reform. Why 
do you not curse every effort that has for its object 
the betterment of the world, for that reason? 
Women keep the lights shining and the fire burning 
at night while men are reveling in debauchery and 
drunkenness. Women soothe the wounds that men 
inflict. Women's eyes are sleepless with watching 
while men lie down in drunken stupor. 

To those who hurl the mocking gibe, again I 
say, "Thou fool." Yes, women are the saviors of 
the church, and God will be her Saviour when the 
mockers are cast down to destruction. 

III. I discover from this incident that practical 
interest and importance centers in the particular 
rather than in the general. 

1. There is a vast difference in days. In verse 
12 we read, "We were abiding in the city certain 
days." These, in the main, were uneventful days 
that had to be lived. It was the one day in the 
midst of certain days that held in its grasp the 
destiny of souls. It is the one day of many, the 
one hour of the day, the one minute of the hour, that 



CRUCIAL MOMENTS 133 

is big with destiny. For these particular times all 
other times exist. There are fateful hours, crucial 
moments on which great issues hang, that come to 
all of us. Here, however, is the important thought. 
We do not know when the crucial moment will 
come. We do not know when the clock of destiny 
will strike. We must go through the wearing grind 
of routine service. We must be on duty when the 
moment of fate arrives. God always picks the faith- 
ful routine worker for the great occasion. We say 
we will wait for the great occasion; small oppor- 
tunities seem trivial and unimportant, or we think 
it beneath our dignity to give attention to little 
things. There could be no greater mistake. Often 
things that seem to us very small are very great, 
and those that seem great oftentimes are, in reality, 
very unimportant. When the neighbor lifted John 
B. Gough out of the gutter, he performed, perhaps, 
the greatest act of his life ; when Moses E. Lard 
spoke to the outcast, who sat fishing by the side of 
the stream, on the Lord's Day, and invited him to 
attend church, thereby starting him on the upward 
journey that led to his becoming a great preacher of 
the cross, he performed one of the greatest acts of 
his life. Let us not despise the day of small things. 
True life is made of many little things well done. 
2. There is a vast difference in women. "We 
sat down and spake unto the women." "A certain 
woman named Lydia," gave attention. Are not all 
women alike? Alas, no. Variety is a striking pecu- 
liarity of the universe in which we live. Paul and 
Silas spake unto the women. The one woman heard ; 
a hundred, it may be, heard nothing. The one 
woman was the child of destiny. Some can be 

(10) 



134 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

lumped together in the mass; some must stand out 
as individuals. Do not, however, imagine that even 
all good people can be conspicuous for the same 
thing. There is one glory of the sun and another 
glory of the moon and another of the stars. 

Another fact to be remembered is this : For every 
leader God needs a great many followers, and ofttimes 
the followers are just as worthy of honor as the 
leaders. We honor the great general ; let us not 
forget the thousands of brave men whose bones lie 
bleaching on the battlefield. "We honor the man who 
plants the flag on the rampart; let us not forget the 
hundreds whose bodies fall m the trench beside the 
wall, and over which the victor walks to perform 
his deed of valor. When you see some one do a 
really great thing, do not be discouraged ; if you feel 
that you can not do that thing, perhaps you can do 
something equally great. All can not. do the same 
thing equally well, but each can do something a 
little better than any one else can do it. 

IV. Some of the characteristics of a noble soul 
are shown. 

"A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of 
purple." 

1. Lydia was an industrious woman. She had 
an occupation. Did you ever notice how impossible 
it is to do anything for an idle person? Do you 
imagine that people could be so much better church 
members if they had nothing to do? You are greatly 
mistaken. They would be worth nothing. When 
you preach, earnestly covet the privilege of address- 
ing busy people. Your words will make no impres- 
sion on idle souls. If you want work done, go out 



CHARACTERISTICS OF LYDIA 135 

and find busy people to do it; then you may know 
it will be done. 

The fact that Lydia had a calling suggests that 
there is no impropriety in a woman engaging in any 
worthy business. It is cause for rejoicing that we 
live in an age that opens the door of opportunity 
to women. It is no disgrace to sell purple. It is 
no disgrace to do any worthy work well. True, there 
are some callings better fitted to women than others. 
There are good reasons why women should not com- 
pete with men in every form of business or pro- 
fessional activity, but she should be granted the 
privilege of engaging in any honest work for which 
she is capacitated by nature and training. 

2. Lydia was a religious woman, and in this she 
was true to her sex and her nature. A woman is 
never so much a woman as when she lifts her soul 
to God. A vain, frivolous, godless woman is an 
incongruous sight, a sort of discord in the harmony 
of nature. That this unlovely thing should be, calls 
for profound regret. When woman turns her back 
on Christ it is, indeed, a sad picture of ingratitude, 
for he has done more to right her wrongs and give 
to her the privileges that properly belong to her, than 
any one that ever stood upon this earth. 

I would also have you notice that there is no 
necessary conflict between business and religion, as 
some imagine. A business woman may be a praying 
woman. One who engages in what is called secular 
work may also enter the Church of God. There 
are some people who stay out of the church because 
they imagine thev can not succeed in business and 
be a Christian. This is a woeful mistake; any busi- 
ness that is incompatible with Christianity is a bad 



136 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

business, and any method of doing business that is 
contrary to Christian principles, is a false method. 
True and lasting success in business can only be had 
through the application of Christian principles to 
business methods. 

3. Lydia was a hospitable woman. "If ye have 
judged me faithful, come into my house and abide. " 
Here is the characteristic of a true, genuine nature: 
"All mine is thine. " To lodge the stranger is a 
gracious thing. Especially was that true in the days 
of the apostles, and it is equally true in some places 
now. The stranger needs sympathy, company ; we 
are all brethren. I fear we have not touched bottom 
yet. Here is the deeper secret; we need fellowship. 
This is the Christian impulse. When Christ takes 
up his abode in our hearts we want fellowship with 
all that are his. "Come into my house and abide" 
points to a double need. 'In this day of stress and 
storm, of rush and mad impetuosity, I fear we are 
in danger of losing some of the sweetest and most 
blessed things of life, and, among other things, I 
fear that the art of hospitality and sociability is in 
danger of being lost. May God forbid ! 

V. The fact is brought to light that Lydia's con- 
version conformed to the process seen in the other 
cases presented in the Book of Acts. 

1. There is always a divine side in conversion. 
"Whose heart the Lord opened/' Do not draw from 
this language the conclusion that God wrought a 
miracle on Lydia in securing her conversion. Rest 
assured God never over-rides the freedom of the 
individual in the process of conversion. God opens 
men's minds in ten thousand ways — by the circum- 
stances and incidents of life, but never by an irre- 



THE DIVINE AND HUMAN IN CONVERSION 137 

sistible exercise of power that destroys the free 
agency of the individual. God opened the hearts of 
the Pentecostians that they attended to Peter by 
the wonderful demonstrations of his power. God 
opened the heart of the jailer, that he attended to 
Paul, by the earthquake. God sometimes opens 
men's hearts by showing them how near they stand 
to death, as in the case of severe sickness, but in all 
cases human freedom is left intact. But there is a 
divine side in the gospel; the plan is God's, the facts 
of the gospel are of divine origin, the pardon is a 
divine favor, and the Holy Spirit a divine gift. 

2. There is also a human side in conversion. Paul 
did the preaching. God's treasure is committed to 
"earthen vessels." "How shall they hear without a 
preacher?" Lydia attended to the words spoken by 
Paul; this is always necessary. God can not convert 
an inattentive person. Lydia evidently believed and 
repented, as the context shows, and the record says 
she was baptized. Here we have the identical proc- 
ess shown in other conversions : beautiful, rational, 
logical and necessary. Faith, repentance and baptism 
were present; each necessary to produce its own 
change, and the whole process eventuating in con- 
version. This is not strange. Man has the same 
nature — physical, intellectual and moral, wherever 
found. Human nature never changes. It follows, 
therefore, that the process of conversion never 
changes. The steps were identical in every case of 
New Testament conversion, and the process will 
remain the same to the end of time. We may go 
farther and say that the process of conversion, in 
principle, has always been the same. It has always 
required faith to change the heart. Under the 



138 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

Mosaic dispensation this was true; the facts were 
not identical, but the principle was the same. It 
required faith to produce a change of heart, and 
repentance to produce a changed life, and the state 
or relation to God was determined by divinely speci- 
fied conditions. This should admonish us, however, 
not to send people to the law of Moses to ascertain 
the facts to be believed in order to change of heart, 
or the commands to be obeyed in order to change 
of state. 

VI. Last of all, I inquire, "Did Lydia have her 
infant children baptized?" Such has been the con- 
tention of some. 

The cases of what are called "household bap- 
tisms" have been used as a justification for the 
practice of infant baptism, for a long time. Let us 
examine very briefly the cases mentioned. 

1. The jailer and his household were baptized. 
"And he took them the same hour of the night and 
washed their stripes, and was baptized, he and all 
his, straightway" (Acts 16:33). It is assumed that 
there were infants in the household, but the reading 
of the preceding and following verses ought to have 
prevented this mistake. "And they spake unto him 
the word of the Lord, and to all that w r ere in his 
house. " Then those taken into consideration were 
old enough to hear and understand preaching. "And 
when he had brought them into his house, he set 
meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God 
with all his house. " Then those who had been bap- 
tized were evidently believers; this excludes infants. 

2. Take next the household of Cornelius ; the 
angel in instructing Cornelius to send for Peter, 
said, "Who shall tell thee words whereby thou and 



HOUSEHOLD BAPTISMS 139 

all thy house shall be saved. " That no infants were 
included is shown by the account. Both Cornelius 
and his. household were to be saved through the 
hearing of words. 

3. I will mention next the household of 
Stephanas. In 1 Cor. 1 : 16, Paul says, "And I bap- 
tized also the household of Stephanas; besides I 
know not whether I baptized any other." It is 
assumed that there were infants in this household, 
but in 1 Cor. 16:15 we read, "Ye know the house 
of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and 
that they have addicted themselves to the ministry 
of the saints." This shows that there were no in- 
fants, or that they were not taken into the account, 
since infants can not addict themselves to the min- 
istry of the saints. 

4. Last of all we come to the case under con- 
sideration. It is plainly stated that Lydia's house- 
hold were baptized (verse 15). Were there any 
infants in this household? It is, to say the least, 
highly improbable, for the following reasons : It is 
not known that Lydia was married ; but there is a 
presumption against it, since she was a traveling 
merchant, a business scarcely suitable for married 
women. If she were married, it is not known that 
she had children ; probably not, since a family would 
be likely to keep her at home. If she were married 
and had children, they were probably grown up, or 
she would not be away from them. If she were 
married, had children and they were small, she prob- 
ably left them at home ; she would scarcely carry 
infants or very small children with her, being en- 
gaged in business. 

Who, then, it may be asked, constituted her 



140 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

household? Evidently her servants and helpers. As 
she was a traveling business woman, stopping doubt- 
less a few weeks or months at each place, she would 
evidently need to maintain a household, and they 
would necessarily be mature people. 



May we not admire the beautiful harmony seen 
in all the cases of conversion recorded? The process 
is so simple, plain and logical that "The wayfaring 
man, though a simpleton, need not err therein." 
How sad that it should have been mystified to the 
perplexing of honest souls. 

When the way is so clear, why delay a single 
moment? Do not trifle with your conscience and 
convictions. 

Where do you stand? Do you believe? Then 
go forward in repentance and baptism and complete 
the divine process. Have you believed and re- 
pented? Then the command given to Saul of Tarsus 
applies to you. Do you say, "I do not believe"? 
Then in the name of reason, investigate, study, con- 
sider, reach a conclusion. Let nothing take prec- 
edence of this work. You can not occupy neutral 
ground. Jesus has said, "He that is not for me is 
against me." 



CHAPTER XII. 
The Conversion of the Jailer.* 

Read Acts 16 : 16-34 as a preparation for this study. 

Text. — Acts 16: 29-31 : "And he called for lights, and sprang 
in, and, trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas, and 
brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 

1. Paul never forgot to go to the place of prayer. 
In verse 13 we read, "And on the sabbath day we 
went forth without the gate by the river side, where 
we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we 
sat down and spake unto the women which resorted 
thither." "And it came to pass as we were going to 
the place of prayer, that a certain maid having a 
spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters 
much gain by her soothsaying." Paul began his 
Christian life in prayer. When the Lord appeared 
to Ananias in a vision, to send him to Saul, he said, 
"Arise and go to the street which is called Straight, 
and inquire in the house of Judas for one named 
Saul, a man of Tarsus, for behold he prayeth." 

This is characteristic of all true men of God. In 
this they show their kinship to the Master, who was 
a man of much earnest prayer. He spent whole 
nights in prayer. On nothing did he lay more em- 
phasis than on the duty of prayer. Do not despise 
the man of prayer. He will be a battering-ram that 



*A treatment of this incident in Parker's Apostolic Life 
brings out some of the thoughts embodied in this chapter. 



141 



142 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

will beat down any door of opposition. Whenever 
a man loses faith in prayer, he has lost his greatest 
element of power. Queen Mary declared she feared 
the prayers of John Knox more than the armies of 
her enemies. 

A man who has a proper conception of the great- 
ness and difficulty of Christian service is necessarily 
driven to God for help. So Paul felt, and hence he 
declared, "I can do all things through him that 
strengtheneth me." 

I gather from the study of this lesson that : 

I. God's ways are not man's ways. 

1. This was the first introduction of the gospel 
into Europe. Paul had just been sent over into 
Macedonia. The divine method of work is here con- 
spicuously illustrated. A more stupendous enter- 
prise can not well be imagined. Notice the great 
results that have come out of this. Here is the 
beginning of the end of the gladiatorial show. Here 
is the beginning of the end of the worst form of 
slavery ever known. Here began the elevation of 
woman in Europe. Here began the downfall of 
pagan literature and pagan religion. Here the force 
began to operate that was destined to revolutionize 
the most intelligent and progressive of the five grand 
divisions of the earth, and give to it the highest 
form of civilization that the world has ever known 
up to the present time ; and if other countries, notably 
America and Australia, compete for this distinction, 
it is because these countries have been peopled and 
developed by Europeans. 

How would we have managed such a stu- 
pendous enterprise? By fuss and display. We lay 
corner-stones, and engage in pomp and parade, but 



PAUL AND SILAS IN TROUBLE 143 

let us know that great things are not necessarily 
noisy. God's ways are not man's ways. We poor, 
weak mortals imagine we fortify ourselves by bluster 
and brag. Not so with God. He moves quietly and 
serenely in the consciousness of infinite power. 

2. Let us not imagine that a cause is great in pro- 
portion to the noise it makes. Jesus said, "The king- 
dom of God cometh not with observation. " Great 
forces are often silent forces. Power is not neces- 
sarily ostentatious. On the contrary, loud pretension 
is indicative of weakness. Conscious power can afford 
to be modest. Alas, we often mistake all this, and 
imagine that men and causes are great in proportion 
to the outward show. There can be no greater mis- 
take than this. 

II. Paul and Silas got into trouble by doing a 
good deed. 

1. A certain female slave had a spirit of divina- 
tion. She followed Paul and Silas, and said, "These 
men are the servants of the most high God." Paul 
exorcised the spirit, thereby incurring the wrath of 
the owners. The course Paul pursued, at first seems 
strange. This testimony would seem to have been 
to Paul's advantage, but the reason for his act is 
plain. To permit this act of the damsel to go un- 
challenged would have shown an alliance with evil. 
We have a case in point in the whiskey power in 
our day. It pays tax to the Government. This is 
an alliance, and, in a sense, an endorsement. All 
laws by which the people share in the profits of the 
traffic are in principle wrong. They are the strongest 
bulwark of the nefarious business, at the present time. 

2. Let us notice, also, that wicked men do not 
scruple to disguise their sentiments ; otherwise the . 



144 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

multitude would have sympathized with the girl. A 
favorable impression would have been made for 
Paul. On the contrary, popular prejudice was ap- 
pealed to. They .were charged with introducing 
Jewish customs, which was an offense to be re- 
sisted. What did they care for Jewish custom ? To-day 
the liquor power cries out for personal liberty. 
What does the liquor power care • for liberty? It 
is the same old trick of the devil. An appeal to 
prejudice is always the cloak of a weak or a bad 
cause. Truth is never placed under any such neces- 
sity. Beware of the man who uses the prejudice 
of the people as his weapon of offensive or defensive 
warfare. 

3. That wickedness pays no regard to justice, 
is a fact here shown. No opportunity was given for 
defense. Magistrates catered to the mob, and Paul 
and Silas suffered. They were cast into prison. 
Consider their miserable condition: backs bleeding; 
sitting in dungeon ; feet in stocks ; mind racked with 
sense of wrong; no cause for this ill-treatment. How 
would such treatment affect sensitive natures? Who 
could bear it patiently? Only those conscious of 
their integrity and with a strong faith in the ulti- 
mate triumph of right. Only those who rest serene 
in the confidence that the Almighty arm will be 
stretched forth for their deliverance. He whose 
strength is in God, can endure all things. 

III. The unexpected plays a prominent part in 
life. 

1. There was unexpected music. At midnight 
Paul and Silas sang praises to God. Listen as the 
gloomy apartments of the old prison echo with 
the strange music. A prison turned into a church ! 



THE UNEXPECTED IN LIFE 145 

Every place may be a place of prayer. The streets 
may be turned into aistes of a cathedral if those who 
walk them have a thankful, worshipful, prayerful 
spirit. Have we not allowed too much of the joy 
to be taken out of life? Have we not allowed our- 
selves to become too much the victim of circum- 
stances? What has become of the joy of Christian 
service? I fear many of us have lost the best part 
of our religion; namely, its happiness, its joy, its tri- 
umphant song. It was not always so. Paul and 
Silas could sing in prison. The martyrs sang amidst 
the flames. A Christian ought to be the happiest 
man in the world. 

2. Strange circumstances may be used for the 
highest good. Suppose Paul and Silas had brooded 
over their wrongs ; grown distrustful and complain- 
ing; would God have heard them? Who shall say? 
But this we may say: They would have greatly 
aggravated their sufferings and thfy would have 
robbed us of a splendid legacy in the form of a beau- 
tiful example of Christian confidence and heroism. 

We may never be in a stone prison, but we may 
be in even darker dungeons. The soul's despair, the 
heart's keen hunger, the gnawing anguish shut up 
the soul in the blackest darkness. There is no prison 
so dark as that of despair. In such a prison there 
is no song of hope ; there is no faith that lifts the 
soul above the gloom of circumstance and enables 
it to dwell in the effulgent light that beams from 
the throne of God. Better, a thousand times, to be 
thrust into the dungeon of the literal stone prison, 
than to be cast into the dungeon of despair. 

What are you doing? Brooding over your wrong? 
It is an unprofitable business. A Christian ought 



146 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

never to be in prison. Take God's view and not 
man's view. The latter never turns darkness into 
day. 

3. There was an unexpected audience. The Re- 
vised Version says: "The prisoners were listening." 
Do not imagine no one sees you do good. "No man 
lives unto himself." You sing for others. The 
prisoners are listening. How many voices follow 
us with affectionate yearning. The voices of father, 
mother, husband, wife, friend, save many a man. 
How short-sighted we are. We imagine no one 
sees us. We think people are indifferent to our 
song: therefore, we will not sing. We talk of not 
being appreciated. What a mistake we are making; 
our neighbors are listening, our children are watch- 
ing. The world knows much more about us than 
we think. A great American poet sang about leav- 
ing "footprints on the sands of time" for some one 
coming after to see. Let us not imagine that we 
can not influence men now. to-day. Let us not 
forget that "the prisoners are listening." Let us also 
know that we are appreciated for all we are worth. 

The other side is equally true. The children 
heard you blaspheme, heard you ridicule sacred 
things. Your failings and shortcomings are noticed; 
you can't hide from your fellowmen; your mean- 
ness is understood. You can deceive yourself easier 
than you can deceive others. Many a man thinks 
he is hiding himself from the gaze of his fellowmen, 
whose meanness is thoroughly understood. 

We should learn from this circumstance to let 
nothing interrupt our religion. Far better be like 
Paul. He can not be headed off in the matter of 



PROCESS AND FRUITS OF CONVERSION 147 

prayer. If he does not pray at noon, he will at 
night. He never lost his religion. 

Show me the uncomplaining Christian, and I will 
show you one whose life is a benediction. Where 
is our joy? I fear we are losing the art of being 
happy. Maybe it is because the rugged faith char- 
acteristic of the true disciple is lacking. 

IV. The process and fruits of conversion are the 
same here as elsewhere. 

1. A miraculous element was present in this 
^case. There was an earthquake, but its purpose was 
not to convert. It gave no evidence of pardon. It 
did, however, vindicate the mission and character of 
Paul and Silas. The jailer called for a light and 
sprang in and fell down before Paul and Silas, and 
said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 

Plere we get at the philosophy of the miraculous. 
Miracles are for signs, for attestation of something 
extraordinary. In the case of the apostles they vin- 
dicated their divine mission and superhuman mes- 
sage. The effect on the jailer was characteristic. 

2. Paul's answer was exactly suited to him : "Be- 
lieve on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, 
thou and thy house." He had never believed. Noth- 
ing can come before faith. This answer was different 
from the one given to Saul or to the three thousand. 
Why? Because the position of the hearer was dif- 
ferent. In order to make Paul's answer practical, a 
sermon had to be preached. "How shall they be- 
lieve on him of whom they have not heard?" When 
the whole process was complete, the jailer had heard, 
had believed, had repented and had been baptized, 
which are the steps in all conversions. The answer 
to be given to the question depends on the position 



14S THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

of the inquirer. To the believing Pentecostians, Paul 
said, "Repent and be baptized." In the jailer's case 
he began with faith and ended with baptism. 

It seems that circumstances have much to do with 
our earnestness. At sunset the jailer cared little 
for such a question. Having stood close to death, he 
felt differently. Many of the providences of life put 
men into the proper frame of mind to hear the 
sermon. 

3. The fruits of conversion are here shown. 

(1) He washed their stripes; he undid the past 
as far as he could. This is true conversion ; find 
the man you wronged yesterday and make it right. 
Repentance that stops short of reparation is not 
genuine. I fear that this is not well understood. 
Men want to get off too easily. They would be 
glad if a good resolution could wipe out the past. 
A true conversion reaches back as well as forward. 

(2) "He rejoiced." This comes after obedience. 
Joy is the result of duty done. Happiness is the 
fruit of conversion. 

Here, too, a mistake is often made. Men speak 
of happiness as an evidence of conversion. Happi- 
ness depends upon the testimony. A lie. if agree- 
able, will make a man as happy as the truth, if it 
is believed. The happiness resulting from testimony 
can not be taken as evidence of the truth of the 
testimony. A man may be happy because he knows 
he is converted, but he does not know he is con- « 
verted because he is happy. Conversion must have 
some better evidence than the feelings of the indi- 
vidual. It must rest on the indubitable testimony of 
God's Word ; hence it must be scripturally accom- 
plished. 



DUTY MADE CLEAR 149 

This makes your duty clear. Have you never 
t>elieved? Then Paul's words are your command. 
Have you believed? Then I give you Peter's answer 
on Pentecost, "Repent and be baptized. ,, Have you 
^believed and repented? Then I give you Ananias' 
answer to Saul, "Arise and be baptized, and wash 
away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord." 



<ii) 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The Great Invitation; or, Whosoever Will 

May Come. 

- 

Text. — Rev. 22: 17: "And th,e Spirit and the bride say. Come. 
And let him that heareth say. Ccme. And let him that is athirst, 
come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." 

1. The divinity of Christianity is proven by the 
Godlike scope of its purpose. We are told that God 
made of one blood all nations that dwell on the 
face of the earth. Then reason, and shall I not say 
justice, demands that God's offer of salvation shall 
be commensurate with his work in creation. Less 
than this would stand as an impeachment of his 
goodness and mercy. If the invitation were other 
than this it would stand self-condemned. How this 
word "whosoever" falls into the harmony and 
melody that vibrates throughout the sacred Scrip- 
tures. Listen, let us catch the rhythm of it all: "The 
seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the 
serpent" — the blessing as wide as the curse. "In 
thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the 
earth be blessed" — no limitation there. "The knowl- 
edge of the Lord shall cover the world as the waters 
cover the sea" — the largest imagery possible needed 
to express the fullness of the blessing. "He shall 
not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment 
in the earth and the isles shall wait for his law" — 
even .the little islands are not forgotten in the plan. 

150 * 



THE SCOPE OF GOD'S PURPOSE 151 

Notice how the words of the Master drop into the 
rhythm : "Go preach the gospel to every creature," 
"Go teach all nations/' "Whosesoever sins ye remit 
they are remitted unto them." Finally, the last 
words, uttered sixty years after he ascended to 
heaven, show his mind is unchanged: "Whosoever 
will, let him take of the water of life freely." Thank 
God, Jesus is "the same yesterday, to-day and for- 
ever." Thank God, there is never any note of dis- 
cord in the Word of God. On the divine side, 
whether it be in creation or redemption, the har- 
mony is complete. The divine will is the fountain 
of harmony, and where this is supreme the harmony 
is unbroken. The harmony of the universe is never 
disturbed, except when the divine will is contra- 
vened. This points unmistakably to the source of 
peace. When the human will is brought into sub- 
jection to the divine will, peace must be the in- 
effable result. 

2. It must have been a great apocalypse for the 
apostle Peter when he said: "Of a truth I perceive 
that God is no respecter of persons, but in every na- 
tion he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is 
acceptable to him." It was a hard lesson for a Jew to 
learn, and it required a miracle to teach it to him. It 
was a hard lesson for an elect nation to learn ; in fact, 
it has not yet been learned. It has been a hard 
lesson for the elect in all ages to learn, who have 
failed to grasp the true doctrine of election ; namely, 
election unto service, the election of the one or the 
few for the sake of the many. It is, however, a 
necessary lesson, and he is little fitted for real service 
until it is learned. Even the gospel was kept in 
narrow limits until the apostles grasped the lesson. 



152 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

How these words "whosoever will" brush aside 
the doctrine of unconditional election unto eternal 
life. It is a broadside from heaven's batteries that 
sweeps away all walls of partition that divide the 
world into parties, cliques and clans. How it puts 
to shame all human systems in this regard. It takes 
man to do the small act. It takes man to erect bar- 
riers, and create systems, and invent badges and 
passwords and regalia of distinction. When I see 
him strut with his little trappings — tinsel, gold braid, 
feathers and sword — I say, how little he is after 
all. Is this the creature made in the divine image? 
Surely the angels blush to see it. But, no! Perhaps 
I am mistaken ! Maybe they look on with amuse- 
ment at the childish play, awaiting patiently the 
time of larger, fuller development. Draw your line 
around your little system, define its limitations, but 
when you do it I know it is human and not divine. 
Everything that is of God scorns limitations and 
despises little artificial barriers. The terms "race," 
"class" and "color" do not belong to God's king- 
dom. It deals only in words of largest scope and 
meaning. "World," "all men," "all nations," "who- 
soever will," are the words and phrases that enter 
into its vocabulary. Christianity, therefore, can not 
be forced into a corner. It never consents to vacate 
any part of the field. It demands the whole space, 
whether it be the world or the human heart, and in 
this it shows its celestial origin. 

In connection with this wonderful passage, I call 
attention to the fact that: 

I. Those who give the invitation invest it with 
wonderful dignity. 

1. God, the Creator and Father of all, invites, 



GOD'S GREAT INVITATION 153 

and he does it because he has ample, yea, infinite, 
resources at his command. He who owns all things 
says, "Come/' It is not a mere courtesy. His heart 
has not outrun his judgment. His hospitality has 
not outstripped his ability. His provision is bound- 
less, because his resources are immeasurable. It is 
no beggar that says, "Come!" Otherwise we might 
hesitate. It is the infinite God, able and willing to 
give, that invites. Every real want of every soul 
will be met. No one will ever go away disappointed. 
Hear him : "As I live, saith God, I have no pleasure 
in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn 
from his way and live ; turn ye, turn ye, from your 
evil ways, for why will you die?" "And in this 
mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto the 
people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on 
the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on 
the Ices well refined." Note well the words: "All 
people," not some people, not a few nice, congenial 
folks, not the rich or powerful, but "all people." That 
sounds like God were talking. There is no mis- 
taking the source of such language. Who could say 
that but God? Who would say it but him? Put that 
invitation beside the invitations sent out by the 
little societies of men's forming, and you feel you 
have transferred your gaze from God's great sky to 
the ceiling of a little room, and yet some turn their 
backs on the church because they say it is narrow 
Perish the thought ! So long as the church is true 
to the great invitation of God it is the broadest 
institution in the world. Narrowness belongs to the 
things of man's making, never to the things of God's 
making. "Whosoever will." Listen, God is speak- 
ing! Shout the tidings, lift up the cry, carry it for- 



154 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

ward, and cease not till it shall echo to every corner 
of this benighted, sin-cursed earth. 

Parents invite their children to the family re- 
union. From far and near they come, children and 
grandchildren, with glad hearts, because they know 
they will be welcome, so welcome; because they 
know the completeness and harmony of the occa- 
sion will be broken by their absence ; and if per- 
chance some are absent how they are remembered, 
how their names pass from lip to lip. Father says: 
"There is where John sat at the last reunion," and 
mother says: "Mary sat yonder," and at the memory 
the tears trickle down over the wrinkled cheeks, but 
how much keener the anguish ii the absence is vol- 
untary and avoidable. No, you could not make 
father and mother believe such a thing as that; and 
that one would be a cold, hard-hearted son or 
daughter who would willingly miss such an occa- 
sion. But is not this a picture of God? He has 
prepared the feast and he invites his children. It 
took ages, yea, millenniums, to make all the prep- 
arations, but finally when the last detail had been 
completed, and ample provision had been made for 
every want and every one, he sent forth our elder 
brother to say come now, for all things are ready. 
"Lives there a man with soul so dead" that he can 
reject this invitation? Alas, alas, strange to say, 
many do turn their backs upon it and grieve the 
heart of the loving Father, who continues to call, 
and says, "All day long have I stretched forth my 
hand." 

2. In the second place, Jesus the Saviour invites. 
The announcement of his advent awakens a great 
expectancy! There were angel voices in the upper 



CHRIST'S GRACIOUS INVITATION 155 

air singing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on 
earth peace and good will to men/' This expect- 
ancy is fully met when Jesus stands forth and says, 
"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy 
laden, and I will give you rest." "Let him that is 
athirst come, and whosoever will let him take of 
the water of life freely." No such words were ever 
spoken before. How Godlike the sound. No uncer- 
tainty, no hint of possible inability or insufficiency. 
There breathes in this invitation the very confidence 
and power and fullness of God. If Jesus Christ had 
been less than God, this invitation would have 
overwhelmed him in shame and confusion long ages 
since. No mere man can say, "Come unto me, all 
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest," and hold a place of respect among men 
for a single hour. It would amount to an intolerable 
egotism that would invite the scorn and contempt of 
men. This invitation of Christ shows the sincerity 
of God's invitation. Away with the idea that God is 
unreconciled. Away with the notion that he must 
be placated. Away with the doctrine that he must 
be importuned and persuaded to look with favor on 
his penitent child. Jesus said, "He that hath seen 
me hath seen the Father." This means that as 
Christ felt, so God feels; as Christ spoke, so God 
speaks ; hence said Paul, "We pray you in Christ's 
stead, be ye reconciled to God." 

Christ not only invited, but he opened up the 
way to God. He made it possible for sinful man 
to approach a sinless God. To this the prophet 
pointed when he said : "Cast ye up, cast ye up, pre- 
pare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the 
way of my people." Also: "Go through, go through 



156 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

the gates, prepare ye the way of the people ; cast 
up, cast up the highway, gather out the stones; lift 
up a standard for the people." Man left to himself 
could not find the way of approach to God. The 
Grecian philosopher said : "Some one must come 
from heaven to instruct." Job sighed for a "days- 
man" to bridge the chasm between man and God. 
But when the world was rapidly falling into despair, 
the prophet pointed forward to the great highway 
of holiness which in the fullness of time was made 
ready. Finally one stood on the earth and declared : 
"I am the way, the truth and the life. Xo man 
cometh unto the Father but by me." Or, to change 
the figure, "I am the door, by me if any man enter 
in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and 
find pasture," or, again, "I am the good shepherd, 
the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep," 
"I am the bread that came down from heaven," "I 
am the water of life." Christ's invitation finds every 
man. Is he lost, Christ says, "I am the way;" is he 
homeless, he says, "I am the door;" is he in danger, 
he says, "I am the good shepherd;" is he hungry, he 
says, "I am the bread that came down from heaven ;" 
is he thirsty, he says, "I am the water of life ;" is 
he ignorant, he says, "I am the truth." His whole 
life was an invitation. Not only his words, but his 
manner, invited people to him, and the needy, the 
sorrowful, the outcasts found refuge and warmed 
themselves in his presence like the starving way- 
farer on a winter's day finds warmth and comfort 
by the genial fireside of a hospitable home. In view 
of all this, how harmonious, how fitting, how inex- 
pressibly appropriate are the last words we have 
from the Master, words uttered from his seat at the 



THE SPIRIT INVITES 157 

right hand of God. "Whosoever will, let him take 
of the water of life freely." 

3. In the next place, the Spirit invites: "Holy 
men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy 
Spirit." "Net by words which man's wisdom teaches, 
but which the Holy Spirit teaches." Jesus said, "He" 
(the Holy Spirit) "shall bring all things to your 
remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you;" 
also, "It is expedient for you that I go away, for 
if I go not away the Comforter will not come ; but 
if I go away I will send him unto you ; and when 
he is come he will convict the world of sin and 
of righteousness and judgment" — the sin of reject- 
ing Christ, the righteousness of Christ, and the 
judgment of Satan ; but it all means that you and I 
may hear and embrace the great invitation and enjoy 
the blessings of the kingdom forever and forever. 
Not only does the Spirit invite, but he is grieved 
at our failure to respond or to entertain him ; hence, 
we are told to "grieve not the Spirit," and more, 
"He makes intercession for us with groanings that 
can not be uttered." Then, if we are lost, it is 
because we reject the wooings of the Holy Spirit. 
What a trinity invites in the great invitation ! 

But this is not all. In the next place : 

4. The church invites. This is the grandest 
company on earth. Men may ridicule the church, 
but this only shows that they misunderstand it or 
hate it because its presence in the world is a stand- 
ing reproof to wickedness and sin. There is no 
such aggregation of men as those who compose the 
body whom Christ calls his bride. The world would 
be poor indeed without the church. She has been 
the foster mother of all that is highest and best in 



158 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

every department of human thought and activity. 
Poetry, music, oratory, sculpture, painting, in short, 
every high and noble thing, has been quickened into 
a new life, and achieved its best expression through 
the ideals and impulses of the church. Government, 
education, social reforms, have reached their highest 
achievements through the influence and help of the 
church. Do not blush to be called a member of the 
church. Most unselfish heroism, truest devotion to 
duty, and noblest sacrifice are found in the church 
as nowhere else. The church is as dear to Christ 
as the apple of his eye. It is the champion of every- 
thing good and the foe of everything bad. It is 
loved by the best and hated by the worst people in 
the world. When the church says, "Come," the 
noblest company on earth invite. Do not talk to me 
about the failures of the church, but talk of the 
failures of those whom the church is trying to lift 
up and save for high and holy service. Do not 
tell me about the mistakes of the church, but tell 
me of the mistakes of those whom the church is 
trying to enlighten and fill with divine impulses. 
Do not speak of the sins of the church, but point, if 
you will, to the sins of those who, despite their 
blood-bought privileges, still disgrace their high and 
holy vocation. Xo, do not defame the church. I 
will not hear it. It is the only saving institution 
in the world to-day. It is the only institution that 
can live on, and live growingly, burdened with the 
follies, foibles and weaknesses of so many who are 
faithless and false to its principles. But, please God, 
it is gradually shaking ofT its weights, cleansing its 
stains and sharpening its weapons for the final con- 
flict with the powers of darkness, and it is destined 



THE CHURCH AND ANGELS INVITE 159 

to shine forth "fair as the moon, clear as the sun 
and terrible as an army with banners/' pledged by 
the oath of God to final and glorious victory. No, 
when the church invites, do not sneer or treat it as 
a little thing. It is the choicest spirits of earth 
uniting their voices with the blessed trinity of 
heaven, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in pleading 
with you for your highest good. To laugh at such 
an invitation, is to laugh the laugh of the fool. 

5. The angels invite. What an inspiring 
thought. They are interested in all that pertains to 
men. The cherubim, overshadowing the mercy-seat 
and gazing down upon it, symbolize the interest of 
the angels in human redemption. They sang at the 
advent of the* Son of man, and ministered to him 
after his temptation ; they announced his resurrec- 
tion and accompanied him at his ascension, and we 
are told that they rejoice over the repentance of 
sinners, and minister to those who are heirs of 
salvation. Truly, it is a great invitation when all 
heaven and the best on earth unite in saying, 
"Come." 

In the study of the text we are led to consider : 

II. Who are invited. The invitation is very 
sweeping in its scope.* 

"Whosoever will" leaves no one out. It is all- 
embracing in its purpose. 

1. We see from this that the young may come. 
The age limit is here set. Whenever a person is old 
enough to will he is old enough to come. 

(1) There have been two radical mistakes at 
this point. Some have sought to bring persons into 
the church without their will or consent, yea, long 



*In a sermon of the late Dr. Talmage this point is forcefully 
elaborated. 



160 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

before they could exercise intelligent choice. This 
is in clear violation of the terms of invitation. 
"Whosoever will" points to those who are competent 
to choose. Infants are excluded not only because 
they can not choose, but because they have no need 
of choosing. Having no personal sin, they have no 
need of pardon. But says one, they have original 
or inherited sin. I answer, whatever they lost in 
the first Adam without their choice, they gain in 
the second Adam without their choice. "As in 
Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." 
If there is such a thing as original sin (and I will 
not digress to discuss the question here) it is done 
away in Christ; but that there is such a thing as 
willful sin or sin from choice, no one will deny, and 
as a consequence there is spiritual death. Hence, 
unregenerate man is dead in trespasses and sins. 
But if this spiritual death resulted from choice, so 
spiritual life must result from choice, and this is in 
harmony with Scripture teaching. Man heard, be- 
lieved and obeyed Satan and died. Man hears, be- 
lieves and obeys Christ and lives. Hence, the 
invitation is addressed to those who are old enough 
to hear, believe and obey on their own account. 
Father and mother can not believe for child, nor 
friend for friend. Each must act for himself. Even 
God will not over-ride the independent volition of 
his child. He hands you the cup of salvation, but 
he will not force you to drink. He offers you par- 
don, but he will not compel you to accept it. "Who- 
soever will, may come." 

(2) The second mistake is the exact opposite 
of the first. Instead of trying to bring infants into 
the church without their choice or consent, young 
people, when old enough to make choice, are re- 



THE YOUNG ARE INVITED 161 

jected or discouraged, when they present themselves, 
on the ground that their knowledge is insufficient. 
Of the nineteen hundred years since Christ came, 
eighteen hundred years have been partially wasted 
in misdirected efforts. Until Robert Raikes began 
his work, there was no organized effort to save the 
young. The church was regarded as an institution 
belonging mainly to the middle-aged and the old. 
There was no Bible teaching for the young, no 
Christian Endeavor societies, or young people's meet- 
ings of any kind. All speaking and praying in the 
church was done by a few old people. Such a thing 
as young people lifting up their voices in public 
prayer was never dreamed of. In a few pious 
families the children were required to attend church, 
but it was a very dry and uninteresting place for 
them. They had no part or lot in the service. The 
general policy seemed to be to let the young people 
go the downward road, and then, after they had 
drunk well of the cup of sin, to set the preacher 
after them. If he failed, the blame was laid on 
God, because he did not put forth an act of irresist- 
ible grace to save them. Many drifted comfortably 
along with the idea that God would act for the 
salvation of their children in his own good time, 
if, perchance, they were so fortunate as to belong to 
the elect. If not, who, they said, shall reply against 
God? "Hath not the potter power over the clay to 
make one vessel to honor and another to dishonor?" 
Thank God, we are getting over some of our fool- 
ishness on this question. We are beginning to 
understand that Christianity is intended for the 
young as well as for the old. Many had been so 
scared by the phantom of infant church membership 



162 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

that they had rushed to the other extreme, which is 
even more dangerous, if any comparison is allowable. 
But let us hope that that day has passed, never to 
return. There is a vast difference between infants 
and children ten or twelve years old, who have 
reached the age of accountability and know good 
from evil and can choose between them. It is unfor- 
tunate for children to reach the age of sixteen and 
eighteen, or older, not having obeyed the gospeh 
Their chances for ever responding to the gospel 
appeal grow less with each advancing year. Every 
year spent in sin complicates the problem of con- 
version and makes it more difficult. Statistics show 
that conversions are more numerous between the 
ages of sixteen and twenty than at any other time 
in life. There is a psychological reason for the 
appeal to the young. If people would study psychol- 
ogy more and theology less, they would meet with 
greater success in propagating the gospel. "My 
child, give me thy heart," is not only the call of 
the Father, but it is based on a knowledge of the 
child nature. "Remember thy Creator in the days 
of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor 
the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have 
no pleasure in them." The man who penned these 
words showed a deep insight into the child mind. 
Fathers and mothers, how r can you sleep quietly 
while your child is unsaved? Do you ever think 
over this, and pray over it? Do you realize that 
every day that passes is a day of peril? Why 
allow men to go to the bottom before trying to lift 
them up? Why allow the young to waste the best 
years* of life in the service of Satan without an 
effort to prevent it? Answer you who can. Is it 



IT IS NOT A QUESTION OF KNOWLEDGE 163 

not easier to keep a train on the track than to put 
it back after it is off? Is it not easier to curb a 
fiery steed than to check it when once control is 
lost? Do you say you want the children to under- 
stand? Where is your limit? How much do you 
want them to understand? Do you want them to 
understand all about God? All about sin? All about 
atonement? All about Christ and the Holy Spirit? 
The proudest minds, after years of study, can grasp 
these subjects only in a meager way. An eternity 
may be too short a time for the comprehension of 
the infinities of God. I fear you have confounded 
the gospel with theology. In the apostolic day men 
could learn enough in a single sermon to become 
Christians. The average Bible-school pupil to-day 
knows more about Christ than the first three thou- 
sand converts knew. A child can trust the Saviour 
even better than many older people. Teachers in 
the Lord's Day school, do you grasp the idea? Your 
mission is to bring your pupils to Christ. This is 
the goal of your endeavor. You may have a task 
to perform that parents have neglected. Do not put 
off your work. Delay is often fatal. Young people, 
remember that heaven and hell lie in opposite direc- 
tions. You are not standing still. You are going 
toward one or the other. We hear much said about 
sowing wild oats. "Be not deceived, God is not 
mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall 
he also reap." 

I can tell the fortunes of young people on broad 
lines. It is, accept Christ and achieve true success 
or reject him and meet with failure. Religion will 
put no handcuffs on the young. It will take away 
from them no real privilege. It will deprive them 



164 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

of no real pleasure. It fences in the poisonous trees 
only. It builds the wall only at the edge of the 
precipice. It puts no prohibition upon the trees of 
the garden that are good for food. It takes away 
no liberties where there are no dangers. "No good 
thing is witheld from them that walk uprightly. ,, 
Do you say you are too young to be a Christian? 
But you are not too young to die. The graves in 
the cemetery are not all long graves. 

"There is a reaper whose name is Death, 
And with his sickle keen, 
He reaps the bearded grain, 
And the flowers that grow between." 

As long as death "treads with equal step the 
palaces of the rich and the huts of the poor," let 
no one say, "I am too young to be a Christian." 

Would that all the flowers that grow in the field 
of our common humanity could be wreathed into a 
garland for Him who has not only glorified man- 
hood in its prime and in its old age and weakness, 
but has hallowed childhood and made it a sacred 
thing. 

2. Let us learn also that the old may come. 
Suppose a man has lived out his life, and only the 
last flickering flame is left burning; suppose he is 
blind and deaf and lame ; suppose his powers for 
service are all gone; can such a one come? Thank 
God, yes, if he will. "Whosoever will." These 
words express the only limitation. God's mercy 
knows no limitation, except such as man himself 
imposes. In one sense the older a man is, the more 
he needs Christ. It is hard for one to grow old 
without the comforts that the religion of Christ 
affords. Sight gone, hearing gone, taste gone, the 



THE OLD ARE INVITED 165 

world slipping away, then if Christ is absent, what 
an awful state. The old sometimes have a feeling 
of being in the way. Alas, that this should ever 
be so! Should father and mother ever be in the 
way? They sat up with you when you were sick, 
cared for you when you were helpless, loved you 
with an undying affection ; are they now in your 
way? Shame on you if this is so! God pity and 
forgive your ingratitude. Old age is in some ways 
an affecting sight. The old have a timid, shrinking 
manner; they look at you with a sort of wonder in 
their eyes; they reach out to you a trembling hand; 
they walk with a tottering step. Is it not a pitiful 
sight? Truly this is a hard world for the old when 
the power to grasp and hold it is gone. If Christ is 
not theirs they stand with empty hands and empty 
hearts. That which they trusted in has slipped 
away. ^ Surely then this invitation is for the old. 
They, of all others, need the hope and comfort that 
religion can give. It seeks to provide a better cane 
and better spectacles than man can furnish. It seeks 
to give the enduring things for those that are 
passing away. How many of the old pilgrims Jesus 
has put to sleep. How many weary eyes he has 
gently closed in death. Did I say old age is an 
affecting sight? Let me hasten to make correction. 
An aged Christian is the most beautiful object on 
earth. Why should we feel sorry for him? Soon 
he will be clothed upon with immortal youth. Soon 
his eyes shall behold the beauties that never fade. 
"Whosoever will, may come." Then, thank God, the 
old may come. 

3. In this text we learn that the bad may come. 
Men taljc of God's grace as though it could be mcas- 

(12) 



166 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

ured by a tape-line or weighed in a pair of scales. 
When will men realize that God's grace is infinite, 
that the ocean of God's love is boundless? Love is 
measured by sacrifice; hence God's love is infinite, 
for he gave an infinite sacrifice. "God so loved the 
world that he gave his only begotten Son, that who- 
soever believeth on him might not perish, but have 
everlasting life." The apostle reasons that if God 
gave his Son, he will with him freely give all 
things. This means that no one is outside the pale 
of God's mercy by his consent. No one is too low 
to be reached by the love and mercy of God. A 
man may trifle with his convictions so long that he 
thereby assassinates his moral nature and renders 
himself incapable of responding to God's appeal, and 
thus be hopelessly lost; but so long as desire or 
power to will remains, hope remains. I have known 
people to worry lest they might have committed 
the unpardonable sin referred to by Christ, but it 
seems to me the very fear of such a thing is proof 
conclusive that the sin has not been committed. Do 
I say too much when I declare that no sin for which 
there is repentance is unpardonable? 

But I hear some one say: 

(1) "I am not good enough to come." "I must 
stay away until I get better." Do not deceive your- 
self. Men do not get better by staying away from 
Christ. If they could, Christ would not be a neces- 
sity. 

"If you tarry till you're better, 
You will never come at all." 

What you need is pardon, and this God alone can 
bestow, and that too on his own terms. But I really 
rejoice to hear you say, "I am not good enough." 



THE BAD ARE INVITED 167 

It is such a one that is just good enough to come. 
The man who is conscious of sin and hates it, is the 
one Christ invites. He came not to call the right- 
eous, but sinners, to repentance. "Though your sins 
be as scarlet I will make them white as wool/' 
saith the Lord. "Let the wicked forsake his way 
and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let them 
return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy, and 
unto our God, and he will abundantly pardon." The 
feeling of unworthiness, indicates a proper frame of 
mind in one who would come to Christ. 

(2) But here is another type of man. .He says, 
"God has not been good to me." To such a one 
let me propound a few questions. How much do 
you deserve that you have not received? On what 
ground of merit do you base your demands for 
benefit? What sort of return have you made for 
what you have received? Is this too general? Let 
me be more specific. Where did you come from? 
Home, did you say? Who gave it to you? Do 
you eat every day? Who supplies you? What do 
you have that is really your own? Did you ever 
create anything? Whose water do you drink? 
Whose air do you breathe? Listen to your respira- 
tion. Who keeps your heart beating? God not 
good to you ! Poor, blind, ungrateful mortals. Do 
not shut your eyes to God's mercies which are re- 
newed every hour, and turn your back upon his 
offers of grace. Open your eyes to see what God 
has done for you and let the goodness of God lead 
you to repentance. 

I have heard of an earthly father who refused to 
forgive an erring child. Not so with the heavenly 
Father. "He is not willing that any should perish." 



168 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

The door of mercy is never closed. It is the door 
of man's heart that is shut, and it is this that 
grieves the loving heart of the Saviour. "Behold/' 
he says, "I stand at the door and knock. If any man 
hear my voice and open the door, I will come in 
and sup with him." Morning, noon and night he 
stands knocking, and it is man's coldness and un- 
willingness to open the door that breaks his loving 
heart. "Behold," he says, "now is the accepted time; 
to-day is the day of salvation." To this the prophet 
looked forward when he said: "Behold, the days 
come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new cov- 
enant with the house of Judah ... I will put my 
law in their mind and write it on their heart, and 
their sins and their iniquities I will remember no 
more." 

(3) There is still another type of man. He 
says, "I am wicked, I am lost, I need Christ, but I 
am afraid I can not hold out faithful to the end. If 
I felt sure I could persevere I would start." Answer 
me this. Do you gain strength by delay? Will you 
be stronger by to-morrow? Will you make no 
effort because you can not see the end from the 
beginning? Does the athlete see the end when he 
starts in the race? Does the farmer see the end 
when he sows his field? No, no. We must walk 
by faith and not by sight. It is so everywhere. It is 
the man of faith that wins. All heaven is pledged 
to the assistance of the man who will make an 
honest effort. If you are afraid of failure with 
Christ, is there any possible hope without him? The 
folly of such a position is clear. "Turn you, for 
why will ycu die?" 

Xo moral condition can stand in the way. Lack 



THE GOOD ARE INVITED 1G9 

of knowledge can not hinder. God's attitude does 
not hinder. It is all and only a question of will. 

4. We may also learn from the text that the 
good may come. That there is a great difference, 
not only in the actual moral status, but in the moral 
propensities, can not be doubted. Some seem to be 
more inclined to evil than others. Their appetites, 
desires and impulses are strongly set toward evil. 
They follow eagerly after that which is degrading, 
demoralizing and vicious. Life with them is either a 
continual conflict, both within and without, or it is 
a complete surrender to the evil one. On the other 
hand, some seem to have but little trouble in lead- 
ing a moral and comparatively upright life. They 
apparently have but little difficulty in governing their 
appetites. Vice does not appeal to them strongly. 
There seems to be no fierce conflict with evil, no 
struggle to keep the body under. To live a righteous, 
upright life seems to require but little effort. They 
move quietly along, leading irreproachable lives, gen- 
erally respected, highly esteemed. We sometimes 
hear the question raised, Does such a man need 
Christ? Now, I am the last one to disparage morality 
or to lack in appreciation for the morally upright 
man, but it can not be too strongly insisted upon 
that morality will not save. While a man can not 
be saved without it, yet that of itself falls far short 
of the demands in the case. 

(1) The idea that morality can save, entirely 
ignores the fact of sin. While some are much better 
than others, yet none are perfect. "There is none 
righteous, no, not one. ,, "All have sinned and come 
short of the glory of God." None can claim salva- 
tion on the ground of perfection. If a man has 



170 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

even one sin, and where is the man in his right 
mind that will deny that he is a sinner, how shall 
he escape? What shall he offer to purchase his 
pardon? He has nothing to give; a life of righteous- 
ness, do you answer? But this already belongs to 
God by right. If he has one sin charged against 
him he can never wipe it out by any act of his. All 
he is and has are not his own, except in the sense 
of stewardship. How, then, can he pay God with 
the coin that already belongs to God? If a man 
could commence at any given point and make his 
future life perfect, it would only square the account 
from that time forward ; he could accumulate nothing 
to atone for the past. 

(2) The idea that morality can save, ignores the 
fact that salvation is of grace. This follows from 
that which precedes. If sin is a universal malady, 
if all have come short, and if man has nothing that 
he can offer, then where is his hope? Only in the 
mercy of God. "By grace are ye saved through faith 
and that not of yourselves, it" (the salvation) "is the 
gift of God." But God has shown us that this gift of 
salvation can only be enjoyed through the atoning 
merits of the blood of Christ. The promises are 
yea and amen in Christ Jesus. "Moreover, brethren, 
I declare unto you the gospel . . . how that Jesus 
Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures." 
"If Christ died for all, then we are all dead." "God 
has included all under sin that he might have mercy 
upon all." This is the doctrine of Scripture. Sal- 
vation is God's gift of grace, but the basis of it all 
is the atoning merit of the blood of Christ. It is the 
sacrifice of Christ that enables God to be just and 
the justifier of him that believes. "We are all the 



MORALITY CAN NOT SAVE 171 

children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus." The 
doctrine that morality can save makes void the sac- 
rifice of Christ. Therefore, not only the morally 
good may come, but the morally good should come. 
They are still imperfect and need God's pardon, and 
they must plead, not their own righteousness, but 
that of Christ. If they have less struggle than some 
in order to do right, the greater will be their respon- 
sibility, and no doubt more will be demanded of 
them, for "unto whom much is given, of them much 
will be required." Moreover, their example is needed. 
To point out the way to the outrageously bad im- 
poses the obligation to walk in that way, for thus 
only can the teaching be most strongly enforced. 

Finally the doctrine of altruism, the doctrine of 
Christ, demands that the morally good should come. 
The question in the last analysis is not a question 
of salvation for salvation's sake, but of salvation for 
service' sake. I am saved, not for my own sake, but 
for the world's sake. I am saved to become a 
savior, and he only is in position to do the most 
for others who takes his stand by the side of Him 
who withheld not himself, but freely gave himself 
as a ransom for many. To stand aloof and claim 
salvation on the ground of merit, is to withhold 
one's hand from the great work of lifting up the 
world and bringing it back to the bosom of the 
Father. 

If a man can lead an upright life with but little 
effort, he should not claim salvation on the ground 
of merit, and stand aloof from the only force set for 
the salvation of the world, but rather thank God 
for the natural advantage vouchsafed to him, and 
feel that by that sign he is called to a larger, fuller 



172 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

service than is laid upon the average man. Let the 
moral man know, no matter to what moral heights 
he may have attained, that he too is embraced in the 
invitation, "Whosoever will, may come." 

Listen to the call. "The Spirit and the bride 
say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And 
let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will 
let him take of the water of life freely." Then do 
not say, I am too young or I am too old, I am too 
bad or I am too good, but gladly respond to the 
call and say: "Here am I, Lord, send me." 






CHAPTER XIV. 
The Great Salvation.* 

Text. — Heb. 2:3: "How shall we escape, if we neglect so 
great a salvation ; which at the first having been spoken through 
the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard him." 

1. Every person ought to be borne down con- 
tinually with two great desires. The first is a desire 
for his own salvation. This is not selfishness, be- 
cause personal salvation is the first qualification of 
one who would labor for the salvation of others. 
One who desires salvation for his own sake merely, 
utterly lacks the Christian spirit. Christianity is the 
farthest remove from selfishness. While it is neces- 
sary for every one to earnestly desire his own salva- 
tion, this merely leads up to and intensifies the 
second great desire ; namely, the salvation of others, 
yea, of the whole world. I use the word "salvation" as 
indicating salvation from sin, temporal salvation, but 
this must eventuate in a future or eternal salvation, 
or its highest purpose is lost; consequently every 
Christian ought earnestly to desire to go to heaven, 
and take everybody else along. 

Do you, Christian man, rejoice when you see 
souls coming to Christ? If not, pray God to give 
you a better heart. It is not hard to discover how 
some feel : when their friends come they are glad ; 



*I am indebted to "Natural Law in the Spiritual World," by 
Drummond-, for some of the lines of thought in this chapter. 

173 



174 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

when others come they are indifferent. Hear Paul, 
"My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is 
that they may be saved/' "I could wish myself 
accursed for my brethren." "I suffer all things lest 
I should hinder the gospel of Christ." This is the 
Christian feeling and desire. 

2. What is the greatest blessing conceivable for 
our own town, our county, our State, our nation? 
For every sick one to be restored? This would be a 
great boon, and certainly something to be desired, 
but it is not the greatest blessing. For every one 
to become rich? No, a thousand times, no. This 
would doubtless curse more people than it would 
bless. Let me suggest the greatest possible boon 
for every son aftd daughter of Adam's race — for 
every soul to be encircled in the arms of pardoning 
love. There is no greater blessing conceivable than 
this, for without this nothing else matters; all is lost. 

3. "Why, then," it may be asked, "do not all accept 
Christ?" It is not that they need argument; that time 
has passed long ago. Many mentally accept the gospel 
facts; logic is not their most pressing need; neither 
do they need philosophy or rhetoric. Lilies and roses 
are beautiful, and useful in their way, but they can 
not take the place of bread ; a hungry man cares little 
for them. Men's souls are starving for bread. Jesus 
said, "I am the bread of which, if you eat, you shall 
never hunger any more." What the world needs in 
order to satisfy its hunger, is Jesus. 

4. Nine-tenths of those who do not accept Christ 
are simply neglecting it. Their trouble is in the 
heart, and not in the head at all. Men are apt to 
neglect that which simply takes hold of the head. 
This is illustrated in many ways. The successful 



NECESSITY FOR ESCAPE 175 

business man lays hold of his work with his heart; 
so of the successful professional man. If it is a 
mere head matter, failure is the inevitable result. 
The same is true of the successful poet, artist, musi- 
cian. The successful man is one whose heart is en- 
listed. The man who will take hold of Christ with 
his heart will confess him. "With the heart man 
believeth unto righteousness/' just as with the heart 
he believeth unto every good work. 

Let us try to grasp the force of Paul's question, 
"How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salva- 
tion ?" Three things are suggested by this text: 

I. The necessity for escape. 

1. The first emphatic word in the passage is 
"escape." This suggests danger or peril. If man 
stands in no danger, then the word "escape" is 
meaningless, or, at most, it suggests something of 
small importance. (1) That man is exposed to great 
danger is shown by his actual relations to God 
while in a sinful state. Man is separated from God 
by disobedience, and separation from God is death. 
Life is correspondence with environment, as Mr. 
Drummond says and science teaches ; and disobedi- 
ence breaks the connection with God, and hence de- 
stroys the correspondence of the soul with God, who 
is its true environment. Hence we read : "Sin entered 
the world, and death by sin, so death hath passed 
upon all men, for that all have sinned." As in 
Adam all die, even so in . Christ shall all be made 
alive. " When Adam disobeyed God, death resulted ; 
he no longer corresponded to, or harmonized with, 
his true environment. He had ceased to make his 
will correspond to the will of God. The same is 
true of every man in his sinful state. We are "dead 



176 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

in trespasses and sins." This is a perilous situation. 
Unless this broken connection is re-established it 
means an eternal banishment "from the presence of 
the Lord and the glory of his power." It is not, how- 
ever, a question of being lost hereafter; we are lost 
now. It is simply a question of redemption, of salva- 
tion, of binding man back to God. (2) The forebodings 
of conscience poiat to a future retribution ; hence 
Shakespeare well says, "Conscience doth make cow- 
ards of us all." This cowardice created by con- 
science is not the result of a direct revelation from 
God. It is found where the knowledge of the one 
true and living God has not gone. It seems to result 
from a revelation native to the soul. In heathen 
nations, and even among savage tribes, it is equally 
as potent as in Christian lands. If there is no peril, 
then conscience is a universal and perpetual lie. 
(3) That man is exposed to imminent peril is the 
teaching of God's Word. Jesus said : "He that be- 
lieveth on the Son hath eternal life, but he that 
obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath 
of God abideth on him." Paul, writing to the 
Romans, said : "But unto them that are factious and 
obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall be 
wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish, upon 
every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew 
first, and also the Greek." In his speech before 
Felix, he reasoned of "righteousness, self-control and 
judgment to come." The writer of Hebrews says, 
"It is appointed unto men once to die, but after 
death the judgment." He also says, "For if we sin 
willfully, after that we have received the knowledge 
of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for 
sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment 



THE ONLY WAY OF ESCAPE 177 

and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the 
enemy." But why multiply quotations? The New 
Testament bristles with the doctrine of future retri- 
bution, of awful peril to which the sinner is exposed, 
thus justifying the forebodings of conscience, and 
showing they point to something real and terrible. 

2. The language of the text shows that there is 
no escape from this great danger except through the 
salvation provided by God. Man himself has noth- 
ing to offer. He is impotent, as is shown by the 
fact that the best brain and thought of the world 
have worked on the problem in vain. The blood of 
animals can not take away sin, and hence there is 
no escape through that channel. Paul clinches the 
argument in these masterly words : "For if the word 
spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every 
transgression and disobedience received a just recom- 
pense of reward ; how shall we escape if we neglect so 
great a salvation?" 

The text is, however, pregnant with hope. While 
it points to awful peril, it suggests escape by means 
of a great salvation which was first set forth by the 
Lord and confirmed unto us by them that heard him. 
The argument is conclusive : Since there is awful 
peril ; since man has discovered no way of escape ; 
since God has provided a great salvation ; how shall 
we escape if we neglect it? 

II. Let us turn our attention next to the danger 
of "neglect." 

1. Here many are making a serious mistake. 
They recognize the fact that to do wrong is bad and 
will bring ruin, but to simply neglect duty seems to 
be a small matter. To put temptation in a man's 
way, they confess, is wrong, but to take temptation 



178 THE COMMISSIOX EXECUTED 

out of his way is overlooked. To steal an orphan's 
bread is cruel, but to neglect to feed him is a matter 
of indifference. To take poison will kill, but to 
neglect to eat wholesome food is not a serious mat- 
ter. In short, the danger of neglect is entirely over- 
looked, or disregarded. 

2. Can we not see there are two ways to de- 
stroy? The results of neglect are the same in ulti- 
mate effect, as actual deeds of wrong. One may 
rob the widow and orphan, and they starve ; another 
neglects to feed them, and they perish. One man 
tempts his brother to sin, and he is lost; another 
neglects to rescue him, and he is ruined. One man 
deliberately goes the downward road, and comes to 
destruction ; another neglects God's means of grace, 
with the same result. 

3. God punishes for neglect in the physical, men- 
tal and spiritual worlds. Bind up your arm and it 
withers ; put a bandage over your eyes and you 
become blind. Neglect to use any mental faculty 
and it is lost. Neglect spiritual work, church serv- 
ices, the Lord's Supper, Bible study, and you die 
spiritually. It is just as fatal to refuse to eat as to 
take poison ; death results in either case. 

4. Nature furnishes us very many examples 
along this line. Dr. Drummond in "Natural Law in 
the Spiritual World" uses the analogies of nature 
with much power. The fishes in the Mammoth Cave 
have no eyes to see ; the power of vision is lost 
through failure to use the organ through lack of 
opportunity; the mole has its eyes sealed up because 
it can not use them ; the animals that live deep down 
in the sea have no eye for a similar reason. God says 
that if you do not use you shall not have. This is the 



THE DOCTRINE OF USE OR LOSE 179 

meaning of the paradox, "From him that hath not shall 
be taken away that which he hath." You have a good 
impulse; use it or lose it. If lost, it will not return 
at your bidding. It is a good rule to give to those 
that ask, for your own sake ; refuse and you will lose 
the power to give, through loss of desire. The evil 
of novel reading and theaters lies in the fact that 
men feel and do not act. They give no expression 
to the impulses awakened, and they are lost. 

Here, then, we discover the two laws of destruc- 
tion always operating. "He that soweth to the 
flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption/' "How shall 
we escape if we neglect so great salvation ?" 

Illustrations make this plain. The drunkard 
comes to poverty; the loafer also comes to poverty. 
This should be a great warning. You need not run 
headlong into sin to be lost. Simply neglect. You 
need not dig up your garden of strawberries ; simply 
neglect them. You need not cut down your field of 
corn, or your orchard; simply neglect them. These 
laws operate all through this world, both in secular 
and religious things. 

III. Let us consider finally the great salvation 
offered.* 

1. Its greatness is exhibited, first of all, in its 
stupendous purpose. God's greatest work is the 
hoisting of the world out of sin. The world had 
made shipwreck; the vessel was going down with 
all hands on board. God Almighty rose up and 
brought into action all omniscience, omnipotence and 
love. A highway must be constructed ; a bridge had 
to be built from earth to heaven. The highway of 



*Some of the thoughts in this section are found in Talmage's 
Sermons, Vol. II., pp. 341-346. 



180 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

holiness is God's greatest work. All great thinkers 
have their masterpieces: Bryant, his Thanatopsis; 
Gray, his Elegy; Milton, his Paradise Lost. God's 
masterpiece is this plan of salvation. Nothing in 
the past ever equaled it; nothing in the future will 
do so. There are none who can measure the great- 
ness of this work; it surpasses the grasp of the 
human mind. 

2. It is great because of the power needed to 
accomplish it. If God had not been omnipotent, he 
were too weak; if not omniscient, he were not wise 
enough. God might have been strong enough, and 
wise enough to create, and yet not able to save. 
To create, simply required a word. To save required 
greater power. It required infinite love, combined 
with infinite wisdom and power, to save. Jesus at 
the grave had power over death and in the storm he 
was master of the elements ; but Jesus wept over 
Jerusalem, like an impotent man. He stands and 
pleads, and you say, "No." Can we not see some- 
thing more than power is needed? 

3. It is a great salvation because founded on a 
great sacrifice, and sacrifice is grounded in love. 
Elizabeth Fry went to prison to redeem the aban- 
doned. She was told to lay aside her watch and 
purse. She replied, "I will show confidence/' When 
Christ came to our prison he brought all the jewels 
of affection; he was heaven's jewel. Heaven could 
not afford to spare him, but God spared not his 
Son, but sent him to rescue us from the prison- 
house of death. 

We read of Leonidas and his Spartans, and call 
it a great sacrifice; we read of the king of the 
Locrians, who gave his eye for his son, and admire 



WHY THE SALVATION IS GREAT 181 

his love. Many times soldiers have received blows 
aimed at a ^comrade, but whoever heard of a king 
dying an ignominious death for a rebellious sub- 
ject. 

4. The salvation is great because of the suffer- 
ing it involved. It is a fortunate thing that we can 
not see our trials. We think we would like to 
see the future, but it is well we can not. Suppose 
that man, who last week lost his property, or wife, 
had known it for ten years, would it not have been 
a keen, growing anguish? Christ foreknew his suf- 
ferings; he was dying, in a sense, continually. The 
last horror hung over him wherever he went; on the 
mountain, in the village, in the city, at the seaside, 
it was present. He spoke of it, contemplated it, but 
marched straight to it. When he went into court 
he knew the verdict beforehand. When his hour 
came, what a life it had been; trouble all the way. 
He was poor, cast out and betrayed. Nature shudders ; 
the sun veils its face ; earth trembles ; God turns his 
face. Hark! what will the sufferer say? "Father, 
forgive them, for they know not what they do." 

5. The salvation is great in that which it pro- 
poses to do for man. Do you want heaven? It 
offers that, and a great deal more. Do you say, 
what can be better? What is better than a feast? 
Capacity or appetite to enjoy it. Capacity to enjoy 
heaven is better than heaven. This salvation pro- 
poses both heaven and capacity, and the latter is 
more important than the former, for without it 
heaven itself would be hell. We can not get to 
heaven by simply having our location changed from 
a place called earth to a place called heaven. What 
we need, first of all, is capacity to enjov the things 

(13) 



182 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

that heaven can give, and this is one great purpose of 
the church. You love sin ; it proposes to take that 
away. You practice sin ; it proposes to change that. 
You have the guilt of sin ; it proposes to remove 
that. Pick out the sins you want forgiven; write 
them down; but why should you? God says, not 
one, but all. "Though your sins be as scarlet I will 
make them white as wool." \Ye may well be thank- 
ful that God offers pardon, and not justice; we are 
saved by grace. A French girl once appeared before 
Napoleon and asked pardon for her father. Napo- 
leon said, "I can do nothing; he has twice been 
guilty of treason." "Alas," she exclaimed, "I know 
it; it is not justice I want, but pardon." Napoleon 
thought for a moment and then granted it. This' is 
our hope, "not by works of righteousness, but ac- 
cording to his mercy." 

There is, however, a necessary spirit we must 
not overlook. We can best understand it by an 
illustration. A German prince once visited the 
arsenal at Toulon, where the galleys were kept. 
The officer in command offered to release any pris- 
oner in deference to his rank. He went around ask- 
ing questions, but all complained of injustice and 
wrong. Finally he came to one who said, "I have 
been very bad ; I do not suffer more than I deserve. ' 
The prince said, "Release him ; he is the one I will 
favor." So God wants us to come to him ; an 
humble, contrite spirit is, in the sight of God, of 
highest price. 

6. This salvation is great because of its final de- 
liverance. Imagine a man delivered from serving a 
term of ten years in the penitentiary, by a governor's 
pardon. I once heard a life sentence passed on a 



SENTENCE ALREADY PASSED 183 

man. He turned ashen and trembled like the aspen 
leaf, and yet it involved, at the most, but a few 
years of imprisonment. 

Methinks some one says, "Sentence has not yet 
been passed." This is a great mistake; sentence is 
already passed ; the sinner is condemned. "There 
is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ 
Jesus." This implies that those not in Christ are 
condemned. "He that believeth not is condemned 
already." What each one needs is commutation of 
sentence. Jesus offers to do this. "He that hath 
the Son hath life." "I am come that you might 
have life." "In my Father's house are many man- 
sions." Are these not motives enough? Liberty, 
commutation of sentence, mansions of glory; what 
more can you ask? 

A private soldier, William Scott, of Company K, 
Third Artillery, Vermont, was sentenced to be shot 
for sleeping at his post. The case reached Presi- 
dent Lincoln's ears, and he determined to save him. 
Afterward he thought, "Suppose the pardon does not 
reach him in time." Burdened with this thought, he 
went to much trouble to deliver it in person. Soon 
after the Third Vermont charged the rifle pits of the 
enemy and William Scott fell, pierced by six bullets. 
On his heart was found the picture of President Lin- 
coln wrapped up with his pardon. 

God did not send an angel to proclaim pardon, 
but sent his Son. He came to release us, but in 
order to do it, he had to take our place and die in 
our stead. "How shall we escape if we neglect so 
great salvation?" 

Somewhere I have read, in substance, the follow- 
ing appeal : Everything in nature will plead against 



184 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

you ; the water you drink will rise as a witness and 
say, "I told you of the living water that would 
forever quench the thirst of the soul/' The bread 
you have eaten will rise as a witness and say, "I 
told you of the living bread that would eternally 
satisfy the hunger of the soul." The rocks will rise 
as a witness and say, "We told you of the mighty 
rock of shelter that would screen you from all the 
storms of time." The house will rise as a witness 
and say, "I told you of the heavenly mansions pre- 
pared for the faithful." The sun will say, "I told 
you of light celestial that beams from the throne 
of God." The stars will say, "I told you of a 
brighter star, the star of Bethlehem, that would 
never set." The Bible will say, "I called you by a 
thousand invitations, but he refused them all." 
Angels will say, "We flew to you on errands of 
love, but he neglected our ministrations." Lost 
souls will say, "You rejected the same as we; my 
portion should be yours." 

Some one has said that the road to hell is paved 
with good intentions ; these were not kept. The road 
to heaven is paved with good intentions kept. Will 
you not put your resolutions into practice now? for 
"now is the accepted time, and to-day is the day of 
salvation." 



CHAPTER XV. 
The Speech of the First Christian Martyr. 

Acts 7: Read the whole chapter.* 

This chapter records the speech of Stephen when 
he stood before his persecutors, about to give his life 
in attestation of his faith in the hated Nazarene. It is 
one of the sublimest spectacles presented in all his- 
tory, and withal it is one of the saddest ; to see a brave 
man die for his convictions is an inspiring sight, but 
to see a good man persecuted even unto death, is a 
cause for deepest sorrow and humiliation. It is a 
marvelous fact that the world's best men have been 
most mistreated. 

I. In this incident we have an example of uncon- 
scious influence received by a great man. 

1. The speech here recorded is evidently not a 
verbatim report. If so, it certainly must be a 
striking example of verbal inspiration. It was prob- 
ably reported by Paul to Luke. Saul, we are told, 
held the clothes of those that stoned Stephen. He 
was evidently greatly impressed by the speech. He 
seems to have made it a model of his own great 
speeches delivered many years afterward. Saul per- 
haps little realized at the time the effect the speech 
was having upon him, but an impression was made 
that lingered and produced fruit long afterwards. 
Stephen, perhaps, did not realize the effect his speech 
was having. He did not know he was giving a 

*Read Parker's Apostolic Life, on this chapter, to which I 
am much indebted. 

186 



186 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

model for some of the greatest speeches that would 
ever be delivered. Yet such was the case. This is a 
wonderfully suggestive fact; words are immortal. 
Will Carleton says : 

"A word unspoken may fall back dead, 
But God himself can't kill it when once 'tis said." 

This is a startling thought. If the influence of 
words is so great, then careless speech is inexcus- 
able. Truth, alone, should be spoken, and that with 
discrimination. We should always be careful to 
speak our best words, for, perchance, they will 
never die. 

2. This speech shows the illuminating power of 
history. It is as peculiar as it is wonderful. Such a 
speech would naturally greatly impress Saul. 
Stephen traces a line of history with which his audi- 
ence was familiar. He begins with the call of 
Abraham and traces briefly the history of God's 
dealings with the patriarchs. He relates the history 
of Joseph, the history of Moses, the bondage and 
the deliverance, the giving of the law, the rebellion 
of the Israelites, their lapses into idolatry, the build- 
ing of the temple by Solomon. Having drawn a 
picture of God's providences over Israel and their 
rebellion against God, he leaps to the present and 
charges his hearers with possessing the same stiff- 
necked and rebellious disposition and persecuting 
spirit. He closes with this vigorous and fierce de- 
nunciation: "Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in 
heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; 
as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets 
have not your fathers persecuted? and they have 
slain them which shewed before of the coming of 



CHARACTERISTICS OF TRUE PREACHER 187 

the Just One; of whom ye have been now the be- 
trayers and murderers. " The effect was what might 
have been expected. They gnashed on him with 
their teeth, but he, looking up into heaven, said, "I 
see Jesus standing on the right hand of God." Then 
they stopped their ears and cast him out of the city 
£nd stoned him. 

3. The unconscious influence of this speech sug- 
gests the marvelous ways of Providence. God chose 
the bitterest persecutor of them all to be one of the 
apostles of the persecuted religion. Saul consented 
unto his death, but he never got away from the 
speech. The very style of the speaker was burned 
into his soul. 

In the study of this speech we may gather : 

II. The characteristics of a true and great 
preacher. 

1. Stephen was wholly under the influence of 
the sacred Scriptures. His speech was full of the 
Bible. Its great historical facts and their lessons, 
bearing on the people present, so deeply impressed 
him that he well-nigh forgot to make any defense. 
He had read the Bible and believed it, and it got 
a wonderful hold upon him. This is a peculiarity 
of the Bible; it seems to be very difficult for 
any one to read the Bible without prejudice, and 
with pure motive and honest intent, and disbelieve 
it. As a rule, men who abuse the Bible have never 
read it in any true sense. They have read it through 
colored glasses; prejudice, self-interest, evil desires 
have hindered. This also explains why some preach- 
ers make so little use of the Bible. It is because 
they do not know it; they have never studied it. 
This is why some congregations demand everything 



188 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

from the pulpit but the gospel; they are not ac- 
quainted with the Bible. When the church knows 
the Bible it will be a sorry experiment for the 
preacher to introduce lectures on science, literature 
and philosophy, and a hundred other extraneous 
things. People who have listened to the eloquence 
of Moses and the prophets and the evangelists of 
Christ, will not listen to the feeble words of 
preachers who are strangers to this wonderful music 
that pulsates in the Word of God. I will not listen 
to any man abuse the Bible who has not read it 
honestly, carefully, thoroughly, as much as is de- 
manded of him who aspires to teach botany, chem- 
istry or astronomy. 

Think of a man who has never read the Bible, 
except, perhaps, in the most careless manner, pre- 
suming to criticize it ! What a sorry spectacle such 
a performance presents. It is the unblushing pre- 
sumption of disgraceful ignorance. Mr. Ingersoll 
boasted that he had read the Bible through. Think 
of that ! One reading as a basis for the knowledge 
that would justify criticism. If he had read it ten 
times, carefully and prayerfully, the chances are that 
he would never have lifted his voice against it. I 
know of some who have read the New Testament 
every month for years, and who read the Old Testa- 
ment several times a year, and their faith has grown 
stronger continually. They read it enough to catch 
its spirit; they discover its harmonies and its gracious 
purpose. Let such men criticize and I will listen. 

2. He was a man who took a broad and com- 
prehensive view of life. He not only knew history, 
but realized his own relations to it. He lived in the 
past as well as the present. He belonged to a noble 



METHOD OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE 189 

succession ; he was a link in a great chain. It is a 
great inspiration for present duty to realize the his- 
tory that lies behind. A man can not be truly great 
who feels he is an isolated unit. He must take his 
place in the line, and feel that he is a calculated 
part of God's great plan. 

3. He was a man that acted from deep convic- 
tion. A man who acts from conviction is always a 
factor to be reckoned with. The reason why men 
do not act and speak is because they have no con- 
victions. A man can not prepare himself for the 
ministry by acquiring a knowledge of literature and 
facts. He must have convictions. Then, and then 
only, will he present truth in a pointed and con- 
vincing way. In such a man's hands the gospel will 
be a sword that cuts ; a dart that pierces ; a fire that 
burns. Such a man gives to the truth its personal 
application regardless of consequences. He will 
speak, even if he die, as Stephen did. 

We may learn also from this speech and incident: 

III. The method of divine providence and gather 
some practical lessons. 

1. This speech shows that God reveals his truth 
to individuals. He appeared to Abraham, Joseph, 
Moses, Solomon. He picks out one man and speaks 
to him. He calls the one man out from the multi- 
tude. He deals primarily with the individual, not the 
masses. You may object to this and criticize it, but 
you can not deny it, even if you look outside of the 
Bible. How is it that one man happens to be a 
poet, another an inventor? Why does one boy in 
the family have more sense than all the rest? Why 
happens it that one man speaks the unconscious 
thought of a generation? How do I reconcile this 



190 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

with the idea of God's justice? Only on the ground 
that the one is chosen for the sake of all. 

2. It follows from this that we should always 
place ourselves in an individual relation to things. 
When I listen to a sermon I must isolate myself. 
It must be a message to me. When I undertake a 
work I must do it as an individual. I must put my 
own personality into it. When a man makes a 
speech he should do it differently .from any other 
person, and he will, unless he is artificial. It is 
individuality that gives power. If God had intended 
every man to do everything, and all men to do every- 
thing alike, he would have made all men exactly 
alike. He would have given all the same power; he 
would have left out the factor we call individual 
peculiarity. 

3. This speech shows that the great future de- 
mands the sacrifice of the small present. Abraham 
must leave home and kindred; Joseph must go out 
among strangers; Moses must surrender court life. 
So it has ever been. We say, "A bird in the hand 
is worth two in the bush ;" there was never a greater 
fallacy. That idea has ruined many a man. We 
must give up reality for a dream. We act on this 
principle all along the line of life. It is thus we 
get education, professional knowledge, property. 
This takes the commonplace out of life and fills it 
with surprises. It is the idealist, the dreamer, that 
grasps the largest reality; this is the paradox of life. 

4. This speech shows that misfortunes have their 
ministry to perform. We may say, when God calls 
men will he not go before them and make the path 
smooth; will he not brighten the pathway of his 
elect with sunshine and flowers? There was never a 



OPPOSITE EFFECTS OF TRUTH 191 

greater mistake. Abraham was called, yet he had to 
dwell in a strange land, and his seed had to be in 
bondage. Joseph was called, yet he had to be sold 
and go to prison. Break in on these lives at some 
intermediate point, and they appear to be God-for- 
saken. Moses was called, yet he had to flee for his 
life; Paul was called, yet he had to be stoned and 
imprisoned. Our trouble is, we pass judgment too 
soon. Let us wait until the whole circle of Prov- 
idence comes into view and then tell what we see. 

Father, how are you trying to raise your boy? 
You have elected him for a great work, a noble 
profession. Are you going before him, taking all the 
stones out of his path? You will defeat your own 
purpose. Let the stoning and prison experience 
come into his life; let hardship be his portion. This 
is what God does with his elect. This is the road to 
great achievement. 

In this chapter we learn : 

IV. The opposite effects of truth. 

1. It is characteristic of truth that on different 
occasions it produces opposite effects, and sometimes 
on different parts of the same crowd. When Peter 
preached, "they were pricked in their hearts. " When 
Stephen preached the same truth, "they gnashed on 
him with their teeth/' One man goes from the 
church, humbled, penitent; another goes out angry 
and rebellious. The gospel is the savor of life unto 
life, or of death unto death. This suggests a startling 
reflection ; no man is the same after the sermon as 
before. He is better or worse. No man is the same 
after reading a book as before; no man is the same 
after conversing with a friend as before. The sun 



192 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

that causes one tree to grow, causes another to 
wither. 

2. This suggests the question: Why this strange 
and startling phenomenon? The reason is not hard 
to find. It lies in us, not in the truth. "Blessed are 
they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for 
they shall be filled. " If we are not fed let us not 
blame God ; let us not always blame the preacher. 
Perhaps we are not hungry. We may have intel- 
lectual or spiritual dyspepsia and the food does not 
agree with us. Oftentimes men are sick, that is 
why the food does not taste good. Let a man go 
to the house of God with preoccupied or prejudiced 
mind, and the wdiole service, preaching and singing 
and praying, serves only to annoy and vex him. The 
truth, to him, is the savor of death unto death. 
Even Christ could not overcome the prejudice of 
some men. They said he had a devil. 

In the last place: 

V. We see some common mistakes refuted. 

1. We are apt to think that character will save 
a man from bodily harm. We would like to believe 
this, but it is far from the case in the world in 
which we live. In a perfect condition of society this 
would be true ; but in this sin-cursed world, the 
opposite is true. There is no greater offense to some 
men than for you to do right. Stephen's character 
did not save him. Bad men can not tolerate good 
men. Do not expect it ; do not give up because you 
are persecuted. 

2. We argue, also, that regularly constituted au- 
thorities are right. Who was Stephen that he should 
stand up before this highly respectable and regularly 
constituted court? Surely he must be wrong and 



SOME COMMON MISTAKES 193 

the court right. Can the judge go astray? It is, 
however, a strange fact that truth in the beginning 
usually has been with the solitary man. This is the 
curious spectacle presented all along the line of his- 
tory, both in and out of the Bible. Regularly con- 
stituted authority has often and generally been the 
bulwark of error and wrong. This does not mean a 
thing is wrong because authority is behind it, but it 
does mean it is not necessarily right on that account. 

3. We also are prone to think that personal, 
bodily deliverance is the only deliverance. Can 
there be any deliverance when life is extinguished? 
What would we naturally say is the only way for 
God to deliver Stephen? Evidently by lifting him 
out from among his enemies bodily. God, indeed, 
lifted him from among his enemies, but it was by a 
process we would never have dreamed of. When 
the stones were being cast at him, he said, "Lord, 
lay not this sin to their charge. " He lifted him from 
among his enemies by giving him a soul big enough 
to regard his enemies as the object of his deepest 
solicitude. You say, let us pray for Stephen. No, 
says Stephen, let us pray for these men. "Lord, 
lay not this sin to their charge/' Stephen's perse- 
cutors are the ones to be pitied. 

4. We are apt to think that life is limited by the 
eye of flesh. If this were true it had been a hard 
case for Stephen. Ah, friend, if there is no vision 
but that given by these physical eyes, who could 
face the future without trembling? Moses had a 
hard time, but he endured, seeing Him who is in- 
visible. Paul said, "I look not at the things that 
are seen, but at the things that are not seen." 
Stephen looked not at the malicious, faces of his 



194 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

persecutors and his bruised, bleeding flesh, but he 
looked upward and said, "I see Jesus standing on 
the right hand of God." Jesus is usually represented 
as sitting, but here, as standing. It would seem that 
he can not sit unmoved while his servant suffers. 
The true life is not revealed by the physical eye, 
but by the inner eye, that lays hold of the eternal 
verities. It is said that Christ "for the joy that was 
set before him, endured the cross — despising the 
shame, and hath sat down on the right hand of the 
throne of God." 

Which type of character has the greater charm 
for you, Stephen's or that of his enemies? Which 
vision do you prefer, the vision that shall cease 
when your eyelids close in death, or the vision that 
endures forevermore? 



CHAPTER XVI. 
The Prodigal Son.* 

The Journey Away from Home. 

Luke 15: 11-16: "And he said, A certain man had two sons; 
And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the 
portion of the substance that falleth to me. And he divided 
unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son 
gathered all together and took his journey into a far country, 
and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when 
he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that country 
and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself 
to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his 
fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly 
with the husks that the swine did eat; and no man gave unto 
him.' , 

The greatest miracle connected with the life of 
Christ is his teaching. It is the growing wonder 
with thoughtful men. Teaching that is never in- 
adequate, that never needs revision, and that is so 
expansive as to be always in advance of the most 
progressive thought of the age is the wonder of the 
world. 

The parables of Christ adorn this teaching like 
the costly jewels the robe of the queen. The parable 
of the prodigal son is the richest of all, and shines 
with the brightest luster. It is like the diamond 
that flashes and scintillates as the light falls upon it, 
throwing back the rays in a thousand directions. 

*Parker's People's Bible, Vol. on Mark and Luke, Chap. XV.; 
suggestive of some lines of thought in this and the following 
sermon. 

195 



196 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

In this parable there are four principal characters 
presented to our view, viz. : the father, the younger 
son, the citizen of the far country, and the elder son. 

The younger son first demands attention. In 
studying his character and conduct, we may well be 
impressed with the truth that : 

I. He was a thinker, as is shown by the fact that 
he acted with deliberation. 

He took a course that was the result of careful, 
though mistaken, choice. It was not a sudden and 
ungovernable freak that seized him and led him to 
break up his home relations, but a cool, deliberate 
action. 

It is a good thing to think. As a rule, a man 
is much safer who thinks ; but it does not follow 
that a man who thinks will necessarily think right. 
This is, however, the important thing; to think right 
is the supreme necessity. 

1. Notice what the young man might have 
thought, that he did not think. The negative view 
is often helpful to a better understanding of the 
positive side. He might have said, "Father, I arri 
tired of doing nothing ;" for that he hitherto had 
been idle was doubtless the fact. He, like many 
another son of the rich, had never had anything 
useful to do. The man who never has an impulse to 
do anything useful is to be greatly pitied, and this, 
alas ! is the case with many. He might have said, 
"Father, life is a time for discipline, and this can 
only come from intelligently directed activity/' No 
amount of favorable circumstance can ever take the 
place of discipline; the man who escapes discipline 
misses a most important thing in life. He might 
have said, "Father, life is a place for service to 






THE YOUNGER SON A THINKER 197 

others; I want to fit myself for this duty; I want to 
make the world better by reason of my presence in 
it." That kind of thinking would have been splendid, 
but, alas ! such thoughts seem to have been absent 
from his mind. 

2. Notice what the young man did think, that 
he ought not to have thought. He imagined he owned 
the goods that somebody else had accumulated : "Give 
me my goods;" this simply meant, let me spend what 
others have made. Let me have a good time. It 
never occurred to him that he had no real claim to 
the goods, neither did he recognize the fact that his 
father had any claim on him. The very expectations 
of father and mother were unpleasant to him. He dis- 
regarded all filial duty. While possessed of the highest 
kind of freedom he thought he was not free. He 
was a son and not a servant, but he did not recognize 
the great privileges of sonship. With him, as with 
.many, there was no liberty without license. He 
failed to grasp the fact that liberty to debauch and 
dissipate is not true liberty at all. 

II. Notice the freedom granted him by the 
father; he seems to have interposed no objection; on 
the contrary, he at once complied with the son's 
request. 

1. How could he have done otherwise? No father 
can compel obedience in any true sense. Obedience 
that is not willing is a slavery, hence the father used 
no compulsion. Doubtless he had instructed and 
warned him in a thousand ways, but all had gone 
for nought; now only one thing was left; namely, to 
let him have his way. 

2. Keep in mind that this father represents Cod. 
He was wealthy and distributed liberally to his son ; 

(14) 



198 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

so has God done. What a rich patrimony he gives 
to every child of his ; talent, time, opportunity, are 
freely given. He does not say, I will wait and see 
how he will use it, but he gives to each one a full 
portion in the start. He wants us to use it wisely, 
but will not compel right use. He will teach us 
how to use it, by precept and example, but he will 
not force us to a right line of action. 

3. The freedom granted by God to man is an 
impressive commentary upon his dignity and impor- 
tance. God treats man as if he were a great being, 
which is doubtless true when he is potentially con- 
sidered. Man as God sees him is a wonderful being. 
Oh, that man could see himself as God sees him! 
Oh, that man would realize that in the liberty God 
bestows upon him he has kingly honor conferred 
upon him ! Many would set a far higher value on 
life if they really knew themselves. The liberty 
conferred on men also teaches the doctrine of in- 
dividual responsibility in a powerful way. If I am 
free, then I am responsible for making the most of 
life. 

III. We notice that the mistakes of the young 
man are very common even in our day. 

1. He thought all true blessings were far away. 
This is a prevailing error. We are very apt to over- 
look blessings near by. Many a man wastes his life 
in searching for treasures far away, when great 
riches are just at hand. Our truest blessings are 
close to us. So of opportunities for service ; they 
are here and now. No man need travel far to find 
useful service. 

2. He did the very easiest thing that he could 
possibly have done; he moved along the line of least 






MISTAKES THAT ARE COMMON 199 

resistance. "He wasted his substance." I do not 
know of an easier thing than that. He wasted hii? 
property, strength, opportunity, the things inherited, 
and these are the things easiest wasted. A man 
who inherits poverty and acquires riches will not 
waste it; a person who inherits a weak body and 
acquires strength will not throw it away. The man 
who first learns how to accumulate, will know best 
how to save. 

3. He helped bring on a famine. The men who 
produce nothing, always help to bring on a famine. 
Idle, non-producing people are a standing menace; 
they are sinning against the divine order. A man 
who is always consuming and not producing will 
finally get to the bottom; such reap the reward of 
their own sowing, but, unfortunately, they involve 
others in disaster also. 

4. He did not put his possessions in a safe place. 
"When he had spent all." It is a pity for a man to 
have nothing but that which can be spent; such a 
one, at best, is very poor, and what he has is very 
unsafe. There is only one safe bank, and that is 
the soul ; he who puts his accumulations in the soul, 
makes the only safe investment. Paul says it is 
"incorruptible, undefiled and fadeth not away." 
Everything outside of the man can easily be spent. 
God has put us in this world to accumulate some- 
thing that we can not spend. 

IV. A new experience, as a natural consequence, 
came to the young man. 

1. "He began to be in want." This was new, 
the more is the pity. Want is a good thing if it 
comes at the right place. Want must come into 
every life in some form. It ought to come in the 



200 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

beginning, then the want may be gratified. You want 
a future ; if you are young, you can have it. You want 
an education; are you young? You can have it. 
You want the love and respect of men ; are you young? 
Then they may be yours. Any legitimate want 
may be met and satisfied if it come at the right time. 
How sad it is to have the want come after a man 
has spent all; after time and opportunity are gone. 
What bitterness it puts into the cup of life to want 
when one has spent all. This young man had spent 
all, and yet he had not spent all ; here was his hope. 
He still had desire, aspiration, opportunity, yea, even 
time, and in this fact lay his salvation. 

2. When he went into the far country he found 
a new kind of master; one who paid no respect to 
past conditions ; pedigree had no influence with this 
employer; it mattered not that he was the son of a 
rich father. The practical, worldly man pays scanty 
respect to ancestry or previous condition. He did 
not seek to give employment congenial to the taste 
of his employee. He was a practical man ; he needed 
to have a certain thing done, and it was merely a 
question of giving the young man work that needed 
to be done. For another reason we should not blame 
him for sending the young man to feed swine. Per- 
haps the young man was fitted for this and for 
nothing better. This is a very practical world. It 
will use men where they can serve to the best ad- 
vantage. This teaches us a great lesson. We must 
fit ourselves for great work if we expect great work. 
If we fit ourselves to feed swine that will be our 
employment and it is right that it should be so. 

He paid according to the work; the wages were 
very small for swine-feeding; nothing but board, 



A LONG JOURNEY 201 

and that very poor. He must eat what was left 
after the swine had finished. 

This very practical man represents Satan; he 
never pays good wages. His rewards may seem at- 
tractive in the beginning, but they are very decep- 
tive. Satan takes all and gives nothing in return, 
just as this very practical man in the far country did. 

3. He took a long journey; he went into a dis- 
tant country. He did not begin to feed swine the 
next day after he started. He carried much goods 
with him; money, good impulses, self-respect, native 
ability, but when he had spent all, he began to be 
in want. It was a long, sad journey; it was, indeed, 
a far country into which he had gone. 

This story is very true to life. We have seen it 
acted out, many times, before our eyes. The young 
who have never learned to work, but only know how 
to spend, will sometime feed with the swine. Young 
men who turn up their noses at those who labor, 
will sometime eat what the laborer leaves. To this 
point, every one who leaves the Father's house will 
come, sooner or later, unless he retraces his steps. 

Why should any delay the return until the hour 
of shame and humiliation? until all is wasted? If 
you wish to be rich, do not waste the patrimony 
that you have ; if you wish to be strong, do not 
waste the health you have ; if you wish to be wise, 
do not waste the time you have ; if you wish to be 
good, do not waste the noble impulses you have ; 
if you wish to succeed, do not trade off a certainty 
for an uncertainty. Seize the present moment. Do 
not procrastinate when all is at stake. 



CHAPTER XVII. 
The Prodigal Son. 

The Homeward Journey. 

Luke i5:i7-3 2 - "But when he came to himself, he said, 
How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and 
to spare, and I perish here with hunger ; I will arise and go to 
my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned 
against heaven and in thy sight : I ' am no more worthy 
to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants. 
And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet 
afar off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, 
and ran, and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said 
unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy 
sight : I am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the 
father said to his servants, Bring forth quickly the best robe 
and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his 
feet: and bring the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and 
make merry : for this my son was dead, and is alive again ; 
he was lost and is found. And they began to be merry. 

"Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew 
nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called 
to him one of the servants and inquired what these things might 
be. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come ; and thy father 
hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and 
sound. But he was angry, and would not go in: and his father 
came out and entreated him. But he answered and said to 
his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, and I never 
transgressed a commandment of thine ; and yet thou never gavcst 
me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends : but when 
this thy son came, who hath devoured thy living with harlots, 
thou killedst for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, 
Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. But 
it was meet to make merry and be glad : for this thy brother 

was dead, and is alive again; and was lost and is found.'' 

202 



A HAPPY RETURN 203 

We noticed, in the closing part of the pre- 
vious chapter, the dire straits into which the young 
man's course of life had led him. Every man should 
consider carefully ihe destination to which his path 
leads. "There is a way that seemeth right unto a 
man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." 

The parable also shows that want may con- 
tinue after the means of supplying it are gone, which 
should give us pause. Every man ought to see to it 
that he will always have the means of satisfying 
want, because there is a course of life that leads ever 
to that which will satisfy the soul's hunger, while, 
on the other hand, there is a path that leads to 
famine; to a land where hunger and thirst are never 
satisfied. Christ's parable of Dives and Lazarus 
forcibly presents this truth; with these reflections I 
pass next to notice: 

I. The ycung man's happy return. 

A study of the case shows that the young man 
did four things that are characteristic of every man 
who makes an upward journey. 

1. He made a great discovery — he discovered 
himself. "And when he came to himself;" that is 
one of the greatest discoveries a man ever makes, 
and many men die and never make it. Some men 
live threescore and ten years in this tenement of 
clay, called the body, and never form their own ac- 
quaintance. 

As a matter of fact, all sin may be regarded as a 
sort of insanity. The man is not himself. It seems 
strange that this young man should have gone away 
from home, but here is the explanation : he did not 
know himself; he mistook himself for an animal. 



- i THE COMMISSIOX EXECUTED 

He tried to satisfy himself with physical delights and 
excesses such as home did not furnish. 

God sometimes sends strange messengers after 
men to ^bring them back. Hunger, thirst, sicknc 
death of friends. These me$ rs waked the 

young man up. He came to himself : he made a 
: jvery. This is always a blessing, no 
matter how it is brought about. 

2. He made good resolutions. Xo man is hope- 
lessly lost who can make a good resolution. Down 
at the bottom of every ladder upon which you mount 
upward, is the stone of good resolution. 

5 : me people are afraid to sign a pledge. What 
is a pledge but a good resolution expressed? The 

:ge may hold a man an hour and he may. by that 
time, have gained strength for another hour. Do 
not be afraid to pledge yourself to good things. 

3. He made the nc surrender. He sur- 
rendered his pride. He did not say. I will die before 
I will go back. but. "I will arise and go to my 
father." A noble thing to do. Many a man is I 
by his pride. He does a wrong thing, and is too 
proud to make it right. He starts on a wrong course, 
and is too proud to retrace his ste;~ - 

This young man was ashamed of his sin. He 
abhorred his conduct: he said. "I have sinned against 
heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to 
be called thy son." Here was true humility, which 
ss ary condition of exaltation. Here, also, 
was self-renunciation: "Make me as one of thy hired 
sen-ants." There was no self-justification : no at- 
tempt to drive a bargain. He felt that the lowest 
place was good enough for him. 

4. He put his resolutions into practice : he made 



A CHILLING RECEPTION 205 

the journey home. He put forth effort. A man can 
drift away from God, but he can not drift back 
again. He must act. 

Some ask, "Can I not be saved without taking 
certain steps ?" "I do not see the need of baptism." 
"Does not God know my heart?" Yes, but you do 
not know yourself until you act. A man who hesi- 
tates at anything God requires lacks loyalty. 

II. The elder brother's reception. 

1. I think the elder brother must have consid- 
ered himself as the elect son. He looked upon his 
brother as a reprobate. He thought there was no 
hope for him, and he had no regret. In his case 
there was great outward propriety, but inward de- 
formity. His external life was correct. He had 
rendered service. "Lo, these many years I have 
served thee." There was no transgression ; "neither 
have I transgressed." He had asked, "What are the 
commands, both positive and negative?" and, having 
done them, he stopped. This can never result in 
great development. What a little, narrow soul he 
was; his inward principles were wrong. He was 
self-righteous, selfish, lacking in brotherly love ; in 
short, wanting in the true principles of manhood. 

2. While professedly acknowledging his relations 
to his father, he denied the relations coming out of 
this. The servant said "brother," and he was right. 
Common fatherhood is the basis of real brotherhood. 
This man ignored the relationship. He felt no joy; 
how could he when he had no love? He said "thy 
son," and not, "my brother." 

3. He could make a plausible argument. If you 
want to find fault, you can' do it. Some people never 
see anything that is just right ; they would find fault 



206 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

with the New Jerusalem if they were permitted to 
enter. Some find fault with God ; he does not do 
things to suit them. They imagine they could sur- 
pass him in the management of the universe if they 
had a chance. They can't run themselves without 
falling into the ditch, but they can criticize God. 
Do not expect the faultfinder to ever go into a love 
feast ; "he would not go in." It is, perhaps, a good 
thing; if he had gone in he would soon have made 
trouble. That is one difficulty with the church 
to-day, the faultfinder is on the inside. 
III. The father's glad reception. 

1. It was very prompt. The young man had 
fixed up his speech, "Father, I have sinned against 
heaven and before thee." When a young man can 
do that, he is saved. "Father." Oh, the meaning of 
the word. Poor, broken-hearted father. Only one 
thing like it and that is "mother," and these two 
beings God has united in the home and made them 
the heritage of every child. God pity the child that 
does not know father or mother. 

The father was watching; "and when he was yet 
a great way oil," he saw him and ran to meet him. 

Young people, there are two persons who will 
never take their eyes off of you until their eyes are 
closed in death, and they are father and mother. 

Xotice the success of the young man's speech. 
He began it and said, "Father, I have sinned against 
heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to 
be called thy son." The father broke right in on the 
speech and stopped it. That represents the anxiety 
of God to forgive. He will not keep you agonizing 
for days, or even hours. 

2. He was cordial and generous. "He fell on 



LOVE EXPRESSED IN SERVICE 207 

his neck and kissed him," and said, "Bring lorth the 
best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his 
hand, and shoes on his feet." Nothing half-hearted 
or niggardly about the reception that God gives to 
the returning wanderer. 

3. This love of the father's expressed itself in 
service. "My son ;" this was followed by service. 
God can act thus, but we, oftentimes, fail. It takes 
the service to bring us to a sense of relationship. 
John B. Gough told of a case he knew. A husband 
had acted so badly that he could no longer be kept 
at home. Again and again he had been taken back, 
and only, each time, to bring ruin, misery and 
shame. At last all hope was gone, and for years 
the man was not allowed to enter the house. Finally, 
in old age, he thought he would try once more. He 
found his way to his wife, but she would not speak 
to him. To the friends present she recited the 
story of her wrongs, and all said, "She is right; she 
can not receive him." The old man rose to go, and 
with his palsied, trembling hand tried to put his 
muffler around his neck, but could not; he tried 
again and failed ; his wife put forth her hand to 
direct his trembling movement, but that touch was 
sufficient ; it brought her to herself, and she fell on 
his neck and kissed him. It is in service we are 
brought to realize our true relationship to God and 
man. 

4. There was a great, overflowing joy. Joy is, 
necessarily, social in its nature. You can not shut 
it up. Men who are happy will laugh, and they 
want others to laugh. 

There was foundation for the joy. "For this, my son, 
was dead and is alive again." There is more than 



208 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

one kind of death; one kind of death has a joy in it. 
You plant a seed; it dies. You never see it again, 
but out of it springs a beautiful seed. Some people, 
when they are buried, are only planted. So Paul 
taught. A more beautiful body will come out of 
the planting. This is not death. Well may we 
sing by the side of such a grave : "O death, where 
is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?'' 

There is another kind of death ; this father knew 
what it was. His son was dead. Had he gone into 
the ground, then there would have been no hope* 
Well might he rejoice. His son had been resurrected 
from a death more terrible than the death of the 
body, therefore he said to his elder son: "It was 
meet that we should make merry and be glad, for 
this, thy brother, was dead and is alive again; and 
was lost and is found." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
The Appeal of the Bible to the Young. 

Texts. — Eccl. 12 : 1 : "Remember now thy Creator in the days 
of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw 
nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them." 

Psa. 144:11, 12: "Rescue and deliver me out of the hand 
of aliens, whose mouth speaketh deceit and whose right hand is 
a right hand of falsehood. When our sons shall be as plants 
grown up in their youth, and our daughters are cornerstones 
hewn after the fashion of a palace." 

Prov. 22 : 6 : "Train up a. child in the way he should go, and 
even when he is old he will not depart from it." 

1. There is no class of persons of so much im- 
portance as the young. Does this seem to be a 
strong statement, consider the fact that intrinsically 
they are certainly as important as any other class 
of people, and potentially they are vastly more 
so? To them the future of society, the state and 
the church is committed. If the young of this gen- 
eration are made what they ought to be, in the next 
generation the social life will be pure and refined, 
the intellectual life will be bright and elevated, the 
political life will be honest and patriotic, and the 
religious life will be zealous and intelligent. Devo- 
tion to the work of God will be characteristic of the 
age, and the Church of Christ will awake from her 
lethargy, put on her beautiful garments, and shine 
forth in all her loveliness. 

2. The Bible places great dignity and honor 
upon the young. Many of its most beautiful exam- 

209 



210 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

pies of purity, fidelity and heroism were young men. 
Abel, Joseph, Samuel, David, Daniel, Timothy and 
Titus stand out prominent and beautiful on the 
sacred page. No disrespect is cast upon the imma- 
turity and inexperience of youth, but, on the con- 
trary, to the young is given a most honorable place 
in the sacred volume. Even the Saviour of the world 
is introduced as an infant, with all the limitations 
of infancy upon him, and is gradually unfolded, pass- 
ing through all the stages of childhood, youth and 
early manhood, until he arrived at the period of 
maturity, when he came forth from his seclusion and 
entered on his work. 

In this study we will first direct attention to the 
important fact that: 

I. The Word of God abounds in appeals and 
warnings to the young. 

1. While the young are greatly honored, they 
are regarded as standing in imminent peril, as the 
words at the head of this chapter, and the following 
texts, show: Prov. 23:26: "My son, give me thy 
heart, and let thine eyes delight in my ways." Prov. 
3:1: "My son, forget not my law, but let thy heart 
keep my commandments ; for length of days and years 
of life, and peace, will they add to thee." Eccl. 
11:9: "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and 
walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of 
thy eyes ; but know thou, that for all these things 
God will bring thee into judgment.'' Prov. 7: "My 
son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments 
with thee. Keep my commandments and live; and 
my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon 
thy fingers, write them upon the tablet of thine 
heart." These admonitions are urged as a protec- 



A REAL PERIL 211 

tion. The young are regarded as standing in great 
danger, and obedience to God's commandments is 
pointed out as the road to safety. 

2. Is this peril imaginary, or real? Does our 
own experience or observation corroborate the Scrip- 
ture view above expressed? There are strong rea- 
sons why the Scriptures make so many appeals to 
the young, and these reasons are not hard to dis- 
cover: 

(1) The young are governed largely by impulse. 
The emotions are developed first. Passion is strong 
and judgment weak. Anything that appeals to appe- 
tite or feeling appeals to the young more powerfully 
than to the old. Hence it is that all man-traps are 
baited for the young. Let not this fact be lost 
sight of. The saloons, billiard halls, gambling-dens, 
houses of prostitution, depend for their patronage, 
largely, on the young. This is one reason why the 
young are in peculiar danger. 

(2) The young, as a class, are under the domin- 
ion of the present. The here and now hold them 
powerfully under its sway. They are impatient, 
they want to get to the goal quickly. A day seems 
long, a year like an eternity. Hence, it comes to 
pass that the young are more impressed by the life 
that now is, than by the life that is to come. The> 
will barter eternity for time, and a great future, even 
in this world, for the pleasure of a fleeting moment. 
Esau sold great privileges and prerogatives for the 
gratification of appetite for a brief moment, and in 
this he gives us an example of what .we see the 
young doing every day. The young will sell their 
birthright for a mess of pottage. This explains the 
reason why a large per cent, of young men do not 



212 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

attend church with any regularity. The enjoyments 
are not sensuous, and the emoluments are supposed 
to be largely future, belonging to the life to come. 
Some years ago the following estimate was sent 
forth in a circular published by the Young Men's 
Christian Association : 

^Fifteen per cent, of the young men attend church 
with some regularity; five per cent, are church 
members ; seventy-five per cent, never attend church 
at all. The condition revealed by such figures is 
alarming. 

(3) The evil results discoverable show that the 
apprehension is not without cause. In a certain 
house of correction of seventeen hundred and sev- 
enty-three inmates, eleven hundred and seventy-two 
are between sixteen and twenty-two years of age. 
In an Eastern penitentiary, of nineteen hundred in- 
mates, the average age is twenty-four years. These 
statistics tell a startling story. Go through any peni- 
tentiary, and you will be struck by the youthful 
appearance of the majority of the inmates. 

(4) Much of the reading that is done by the 
young consists of the most trashy kind of literature. 
Such reading-matter is found too often where we 
would least expect it, even in Christian homes. In 
answer to the demand thus created, there is a swell- 
ing flood of corrupt literature being placed upon the 
market. 

When churches are empty and saloons and gam- 
bling-dens and prisons are full of young men, there 
is call for an awakening among those who would 

* "Traps for the Young" furnish these and other valuable 
statistics. I am also indebted to this source for some sugges- 
tions used in this chapter. 



CHARACTER OF THE YOUNG IMPORTANT 213 

save the rising generation from the direst calamity. 
II. From this we may draw the great lesson that 
the moral character of the young in every age is 
of the first and highest importance. 

1. The nation that leaves out of the account the 
wants of its children is sowing the seeds of national 
decay and death. The highest order of statesman- 
ship begins with the children, and thence it mounts 
upward through every gradation of rank and station 
in life. The statesmanship of to-day is largely com- 
mercial in character. It concerns itself with what 
a man may have on his back or with what he may 
have in his hand, or with the house in which he may 
dwell, more than with the question of what he is, 
or may be. These material things are of great im- 
portance, but they are not matters of the chiefest 
importance. Protection is a great economic doc- 
trine, but the protection of the soul or mind, or 
character, is of more importance than the protec- 
tion of the things that minister to the bodies of men. 
If our children were made of pig-iron, they would 
get 'much more consideration at the hands of some of 
our statesmen than they do. 

2. "But," some one may say, "does not this 
nation spend large sums of money in public instruc- 
tion? Have we not a splendid system of free schools 
maintained at State expense ?" There is reason to fear 
that we are making a great mistake in the matter 
of our public education ; we are making it purely 
secular. We have failed in our analysis of the 
beings we are educating, and consequently have 
overlooked one important factor. We have physical 
training for the body, and intellectual training for 
the mind, and here we stop, regardless of the fact 

(15) 



214 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

that the most important part in the child is left 
entirely unprovided for. If there is one factor in 
man that is more prominent, more insistent, more 
importunate in its demands than any other, it is his 
religious nature. Whatever else he may or may not 
be, he is always, and everywhere, religious. He is t 
in some way, or manner, worshiping something. It 
may be the one true and living God, or it may be 
the horse he drives, or the farm he tills, but he is 
worshiping. Anthropological and ethnological re- 
searches reveal the universality of the religious in- 
stinct; some form of religion is everywhere present. 
An education that leaves out of the account this 
factor is one-sided and perverted, and may result 
in more harm than good. Godless public schools 
and universities .may become instruments more po- 
tent for evil than fox good. The crusade against the 
Bible in our public schools is indicative of a dan- 
gerous tendency growing out of a grievous mistake, 
and that is, that education is a purely intellectual 
and secular matter, having nothing to do with the 
religious nature. 

3. If this be true it follows that the great work 
of parents and teachers is to educate the young 
religiously, as well as intellectually and physically. 
One of the greatest evils of the present day is the 
carelessness of parents at this point. They think 
it their chief duty to provide for the physical and 
intellectual wants of their children. When they send 
them to school they demand that they shall learn- 
mathematics, language, history, science or commer- 
cial branches, to fit them for business pursuits. All 
this is good and important, but the branches studied 
are estimated simply at their commercial value; what 



THE PLACE OF THE BIBLE SCHOOL 215 

are they worth in the market? At what price can 
they be cashed in at the world's commercial counter? 
is the great consideration. The child is made to feel 
that education is simply a device to enhance the 
value of a day's labor. The nobler intellectual con- 
siderations, such as culture, refinement, good taste, 
mental discipline, to say nothing of the ethical and 
religious factors, are lost sight of. 

4. The place of the Bible school here comes 
prominently to view. If our public schools were 
what they ought to be, there would still be a large 
field for the purely religious school. It would oc- 
cupy an important place. Even if the Bible were 
taught for its literature, and for its historic value ; yea, 
even if its great ethical doctrines were adequately 
set forth in our public schools, yet there would be 
much that man needs to learn, as a religious being, 
that could not be consistently and adequately taught 
there. The intellectual and secular side of an edu- 
cation must, in the nature of the case, hold the chief 
place in our public school system, hence there must, 
necessarily, be supplementary instruction of a re- 
ligious kind. This must be given from the pulpit 
and in the Lord's Day school. The pulpit has its 
own peculiar field. It must be, first of all, evan- 
gelistic. It is unsuited to the impartation of Bible 
knowledge in any very comprehensive and systematic 
way. A school for orderly, systematic Bible instruc- 
tion is greatly needed, in addition to the pulpit, and 
parents should see to it that their children are put 
into such a school at an early age, and kept there 
during the whole period of parental authority, and 
then it is to be hoped that the children will have 
formed such a rational view of the value and im- 



216 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

portance of Bible instruction, and have formed such 
a taste for it, that they will continue throughout life 
in the school. 

5. Here I can not refrain from calling attention 
to great evils under which our Bible schools are 
suffering to-day : 

(1) I mention first the practice of some parents 
of allowing the whim of the child to decide the ques- 
tion of attendance at the Lord's Day school. We 
not infrequently hear persons say, "My boy does 
not like to go to Sunday-school, and I am afraid 
to compel him for fear he will get a dislike for 
religious things." Xo more foolish thing could be said. 
Is the mere whim of an irresponsible, undeveloped 
child, who is a mere creature of impulse, to govern 
in such a case? Does any one act on this principle 
anywhere else? If so, he ought never to have the 
raising of a child. AYhen the little four-year-old 
comes to the table, is it allowed to make a meal on 
pie and cake and preserves? It much prefers to 
do so; why does not the parent say, "I am afraid 
to require him to eat bread and butter, for fear he 
will get a distaste for solid, substantial food"? The 
absurdity is manifest in the physical realm ; why 
should any one make a like mistake in the mental 
sphere? 

(2) The next great evil is the lack of example 
on the part of parents and the older members of 
the church. Parents will never succeed in keeping 
their children in the Lord's Day school very long 
if they do not set the example of going themselves. 
They may entreat and plead, but John and Mary 
will drop out about the time they are old enough to 
begin to get the most good. The impression is 



SOME GREAT EVILS 217 

created that the Bible school belongs to little chil- 
dren. Father does not attend ; mother does not 
attend; older brothers and sisters do not attend; 
evidently it can not be intended for grown-up people, 
why should I attend? Is not the logic perfectly 
valid? Christian man or woman, do not imagine 
you are excused from attending the Bible school 
because you can find excuses. You can frame a 
dozen seemingly very valid reasons why you should 
not attend. You are too tired, or you have not 
time, or you are too sick, or too nervous, or you 
have a pressing duty, or a neighbor calls ; if excuses 
are needed, you can find them in any quantity. 
Better be honest and candid, and tell the truth. 
Say, "I do not attend the Bible school because I 
do not want to go ; I have no interest in it." How- 
ever, I would not intimate that there are no valid 
excuses ; no doubt there are some who ought not 
to go, but these cases are few. The day ought not 
to be distant when old and young will meet in the 
Bible school for the common purpose of Bible study 
and instruction. 

(3) Another evil is the bonus paid for reckless- 
ness and prodigality. The reckless are lionized; 
many parents would much prefer their children to be 
smart than to be good. It never seems to dawn upon 
some that it is possible to be both smart and good. 
Piety, with many, is regarded as an indication of 
mediocrity. Another sad thing is the fact that a wild, 
reckless, corrupt young man, if he has money, has 
oftentimes a more ready entrance into the so-called 
best society, than a young man of correct habits and 
exemplary character, but without money. Even 
young ladies sometimes act very foolishly; they 



218 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

will prefer the society of the young man who is 
going at a fast pace, to the company of one who is 
sober, solid and industrious and especially if he is 
inclined to be religious. There seems to be a sort 
of romance that gathers around the reckless, that 
fascinates a certain class of young women, strange 
to say, and many have indulged themselves in this 
foolish notion to their sorrow. 

The text in the next place leads me: 
III. To point out certain forms of evil which 
should be avoided by the young, suggested by the 
text from the Psalm quoted above. 

What David means by aliens may be a matter 
open to conjecture, but he probably means foreign- 
ers, and, hence, idolatrous people. From such he 
prayed to be delivered. The reason for his fear is 
clear. 

1. The first evil dreaded is the contagion of bad 
example. Nothing is more to be dreaded. "Evil 
communications corrupt good manners, " and I will 
add that bad associations beget and foster vicious 
habits. Character is built through the operation of 
the principle of imitation. This fact shows the im- 
portance of right associations, and this is further 
enhanced by the fact that youth is the most impres- 
sionable period. Both good and bad impressions are 
then most easily made. Whoever yields to these 
contaminating influences is lost. 

2. The second evil suggested is that of deceit. 
"Whose mouth speaketh deceit/' He feared the in- 
fluence of those who were not genuine and sincere ; 
he wanted people to be what they professed to be, 
because he knew that insincerity was catching. He 
feared for the consequences if the young should live 



THE GOOD TO BE DESIRED 219 

in an atmosphere of deceit. If the young, in select- 
ing their companions, would realize this danger many 
would be saved. 

3. The third evil mentioned is falsehood. "Whose 
right hand is a right hand of falsehood. " This is a 
very broad term. It applies to words, actions and 
thoughts. A man who speaks a falsehood is a dan- 
gerous character, but no worse than the one who 
acts a falsehood. Many who would resent the im- 
putation of speaking a lie, will be guilty of acting a 
falsehood with no compunction of conscience. But 
perhaps false ideas and notions of life are most of 
all to be dreaded. David prayed to be delivered from 
false young people, and so should we. There is no 
greater evil to be shunned. In this parents are far 
too negligent in bringing up their children. 

IV. The real good in the young to be desired 
is also suggested in the same text. 

"When our sons shall be as plants grown up in 
their youth, and our daughters are corner-stones 
hewn after the fashion of a palace." 

1. The first idea suggested in this figure is that 
of beauty. What is more beautiful than a plant as 
it expands to drink in the light and heat and rain 
and dew? What is more beautiful than a tree with 
its blossoms in spring and its fruit in autumn? This 
should be emblematic of young life. The young 
should cultivate beauty of body, of mind, and of 
heart. 

2. The second idea suggested is that of vitality. 
Growth is characteristic of the plant. The moment 
a plant ceases to grow it begins to die. So of the 
soul, intellectually and spiritually. It is grow or 
decay, advance or recede, go up or go down. This 



220 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

involves the process of taking and giving, and in 
turn involves intellectual and spiritual hunger, than 
which there is nothing more important. "Blessed 
are they that hunger and thirst after rightousness, 
for they shall be filled." 

3. The third idea suggested, is that of strength. 
"And our daughters are corner-stones hewn after 
the fashion of a palace." This suggests both sup- 
port and strength. Strength may be had without 
polish, but David prayed for both. Woman is not 
merely an ornament. David did not entertain any 
such foolish notion. She is a pillar to society. 
Society is never better than its women. A weak 
womanhood has always and everywhere meant a 
weak society. 

The processes of growth mentioned above are not 
arbitrary, but necessary. They are based on the 
nature of the soul ; the more it receives the more it 
will hold, and the more it gives, the more it has left 
over. The Iliad did not exhaust the mind of Homer, 
nor "Paradise Lost" the mind of Milton, but the 
giving strengthened the power to give. The foun- 
tain of love never runs dry; the supply is never 
exhausted by using. To pour out is to replenish 
the supply. 

Then there is such a wide sphere for all our 
powers. Each has something the world needs. The 
world's sorrow is part of our inheritance. It needs 
our sympathy, and by paying the debt we owe we 
enrich ourselves. 






CHAPTER XIX. 
The Faith that Saves. 

Text. — Mark 16:16 (last clause): "He that believeth not 
shall be damned." 

A more terrible utterance than the one couched 
in this passage can not well be imagined. This 
language was uttered by the Great Teacher himself. 
It is not the opinion of some wise man, but the 
infallible declaration of Him who "spake as never 
man spake." 

It is the more terrible from the fact that there 
is no higher tribunal to which a man may appeal his 
case. To be condemned by a human tribunal is 
terrible, but not hopeless; a man may appeal to a 
higher court. If the condemnation stands, it is, at 
best, only temporary; not so in this case here — the 
sentence is final and eternal. 

I. Since this is true, to determine how this con- 
demnation may be avoided becomes the most im- 
portant matter that man is ever called upon to settle. 

1. It is something for which we should be pro- 
foundly thankful that there is at least one important 
point on which there is practically no dispute. All 
admit that there can be no justification without faith. 
Whatever else may be necessary, at least, as all 
agree, faith can not be omitted. All unite in declar- 
ing that without faith no one can be saved from 

sin now or from condemnation hereafter. 

221 



222 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

2. It is also a source of confidence to know that 
this view is amply sustained by Scripture. Paul 
says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God/' 
"He that cometh to God must believe that he is/' 
"Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace 
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Jesus 
states the negative side very strongly. . "He that 
believeth not the Son shall not see life." "He that 
believeth not shall be damned." 

3. It, therefore, becomes the question of ques- 
tions to determine what a man must believe. We 
will not discuss in this connection whether a man 
is saved by faith alone, or by faith plus something 
else. Some hold one view, some another. It is, first 
of all, necessary to decide what the something is 
that it is necessary for us to believe. 

4. Note further; it is not what we must believe 
to belong to some party. To believe certain things 
would make one a Methodist ; to believe certain 
other things would make one a Presbyterian ; and 
the belief of certain other dogmas would make one 
an Episcopalian ; but the question is, "What must 
I believe to be justified with God?" If this can be 
settled, all other questions sink into insignificance. 

5. Mark well the vital question involved. It is 
not what is a good thing for men to believe; it is 
not what it is better to believe, than to belijeve some- 
thing else; it is not what it is respectable or popular 
to believe; but it is, what must I believe or be 
damned? 

II. Another fact worthy of notice is this: The 
feith that saves, is, by common consent, different 
from the faith that makes parties. 

1. There is a fearful amount of ignorance in the 



FOLLY OF DIVISION 223 

world just here. I state an admitted fact when I 
say, many who belong to church can not tell what 
they believe, or what their church believes. They 
have gone into the church, not because they believe 
the creed, or know what the creed is, but because 
it is popular or fashionable, or because they want 
to be good, and think it is the proper thing to join 
some church. They start out with the idea that 
there is good and bad in all churches, and that con- 
sequently it makes no difference what church one 
belongs to if the heart is right. 

2. Is it not strange that people will allow them- 
selves to be divided up into different fellowships and 
can not tell the reason why? They know they 
belong to different churches, but can not tell the 
difference in churches. The Calvinist does not 
have fellowship with the Arminian, and vice versa, 
and yet neither can tell the distinctive doctrines of 
the other. All this shows that the things that divide 
are unimportant. 

3. Now, I ask, "What are the logical conclu- 
sions from these admissions ?" Jesus said, "Go into 
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 
He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved. " 
It is therefore necessary to believe the gospel. Did 
you ever hear a Calvinist say, "He that believes not 
Calvinism shall be damned"? No. Then Calvinism 
is not the gospel. It may be true, but it is not 
gospel. The Arminian will not say that he that 
believeth not Arminianism shall be damned. Then, 
it follows that Arminianism is not the gospel. It 
may be true, but it is not necessary to salvation. 

Let us make this reasoning more specific. The 
Presbyterian will say the Methodist can be saved. 



224 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

He thereby admits that the things that make a man 
a Presbyterian, as distinguished from a Methodist, 
are not necessary to salvation. The same logic ap- 
plies to the Methodists and all sectarian bodies. All 
admit that a man may be a Christian and not believe 
the thing that gives to each one its distinctive fea- 
tures. The long and the short of it is that there is no 
salvation in the things that divide. 

3. Do I by this logic unchristianize all the re- 
ligious bodies? I answer, No; I am glad to recognize 
Christians in all the denominations of the day, but 
they are Christians in spite of their denomination- 
alism, and not by reason of it. They all hold to 
that which makes men Christians, and are divided 
by the things that are not essential to Christianity. 
I hold that divisions are wrong, and I regard it as a 
great misfortune that Christian people allow them- 
selves to be divided by things that all admit are 
not essential to salvation. If all w r ould preach those 
things which the apostles of our Lord declared 
to be necessary, and insist upon nothing that is not 
essential to Christianity itself, the union for which 
Christ prayed would soon be an accomplished fact. 

III. Then the question recurs: "What must a 
man believe to be saved? What is the essential 
thing or things?" 

1. That there is only one article in the Christian 
creed is manifest from John's statement concerning 
the purpose of his Gospel: "Many other things truly 
did Jesus in the presence of his disciples that are not 
written in this book, but these are written that you 
may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the 
living God, and that believing, ye may have life in 
his name." Here the thing to be believed is clearly 



THE FAITH THAT SAVES 225 

set forth, and also the result of believing is stated, 
"that we may have life in his name." 

2. I next learn what we are required to believe, 
by what we are required to confess. Paul says, 
"With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, 
and with the mouth confession is made unto salva- 
tion. " We confess with the mouth the faith of the 
heart; what, then, do we confess? Paul says, "If 
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, 
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised 
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved/' To be- 
lieve that God raised him from the dead is to believe 
he was the Son of God. He was demonstrated to 
be the Son of God "by the resurrection from the 
dead." 1 John 4:15. "Whosoever shall confess that 
Jesus is the Son of God, God shall dwell in him, and 
he in God." Also in 1 John 5:4, 5: "For whosoever 
is begotten of God overcometh the world; and this 
is the victory that hath overcome the world, even 
our faith. And who is he that overcometh the 
world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son 
of God?" The confession that Jesus is the Son of 
God, is called the "good confession," and this formu- 
lates the faith or trust that is in the heart. 

Once more: 1 Tim. 6:12, "Fight the good fight 
of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou wast 
called, and didst confess the good confession/' In the 
next verse Paul tells of what that was ; namely, that 
which Jesus made before Pilate ; and Jesus confessed 
before Pilate that he was the Son of God. 

3. Note that this accords with the confession 
that God made at the baptism of Christ, "This is 
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," and 



226 THE COMMISSIOX EXECUTED 

also at the transfiguration, "This is my beloved Son, 
in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." 

4. This also accords with the teaching of Christ, 
Matt. 16:16, "But who say ye that I am? And 
Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, 
the Son of the living God." Christ blessed Peter 
and declared he would build his church, not on this, as 
an abstract proposition, but on himself, shown by 
this proposition to be an adequate foundation. 

From all this we conclude that the faith that 
saves is a personal faith or trust in a person. Jesus 
of Xazareth, as the Son of God. The church there- 
fore rests on Christ, and not on a proposition or 
any number of propositions. 

IV. Let us ask, "What are the results of such a 
faith?" 

1. It makes a man a Christian, no more, no less. 
All the offices and claims of Christ are thus accepted 
— Prophet, Priest and King — this meets man's need. 
We believe him. accept his work, obey his command- 
ments. All human authority in the church is de- 
stroyed. Synods, councils, assemblies, that speak 
authoritatively, are repudiated. 

2. It furnishes a practical way of converting the 
world, and the only way. In no other way can all 
classes be reached, but in this way a man can be 
made a Christian in a single hour, as in the begin- 
ning. It requires months to indoctrinate men in the 
multiplied articles of creeds and confessions of faith, 
but a man may hear the facts, commands and prom- 
ises of the gospel stated in a single sermon, believe 
and obey the selfsame hour, and thus be saved. 

3. It furnishes a practical ground of Christian 
union. One may say, I believe in Calvinism. Very 



RESULTS OF A TRUE FAITH 227 

good, but you need not compel another to believe 
in it, if he can be a Christian without doing so. Let 
us insist on unity in the thing that saves, and allow 
liberty elsewhere. Why should we divide the Church 
of Christ, and thus hinder its progression things not 
necessary to salvation. 

4. This gives to the preacher his legitimate work. 
The work of all preachers ought to be the same; 
namely, to bring men to Christ. They all have the 
same gospel ; the difference is caused by elevating 
human deductions into articles of faith. If a 
preacher were to follow the apostolic order, he would 
simply make Christians, and there he would stop. 
To make anything else would be an additional work, 
and, therefore, an unnecessary task. Oh, that all 
men who profess to be preachers of the cross would 
be content to do as the apostle Paul did : "Know 
nothing but Jesus and him crucified." 



CHAPTER XX. 
Life the Price of Life.* 

Text. — Matt. 16:21-27: From that time began Jesus to 
show unto his disciples, that he must go unto Jerusalem, and 
suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, 
and be killed, and the third day be raised up. 

And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be 
it far from- the Lord; this shall not be unto thee. 

But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me,' 
Satan ! Thou art a stumbling-block unto me ; for thou mindest 
not the things of God, but the things of men. 

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man would come 
after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and fol- 
low me. 

For whosoever would save his life shall lose it; and who- 
soever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it. 

For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole 
world and forfeit his life; or what shall a man give in exchange 
for his life? 

For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, 
with his angels, and then shall he render unto every man ac- 
cording to his deeds. 

1. There is a focal point in every great life. 
There is a point at which all the lines of a given 
life meet. There is a point to which the previous 
lines converge, and from which all subsequent lines 
diverge. There is the real life center that gives 
meaning and power to the whole life. Every careful 
student of his own life will be able to identify such 

*Some thoughts in this chapter have been suggested by 
Parker's Inner Life of Christ, Matt. 16:24-28. 

228 



THE FOCAL POINT IN LIFE 229 

a point in his history. One must stand at this point 
to properly interpret life. This life center, in its 
ultimate analysis, is a motive or principle. It is a 
controlling impulse, and often it is revealed in a 
single act or event. 

2. Calvary was the focal point in Christ's life. 
This fact is indicated by Old Testament types, which, 
without Calvary, would be meaningless; by old Tes- 
tament prophecies, which pointed to it by many and 
minute specifications ; by Christ's conversation with 
Moses and Elias at the time of the Transfiguration, 
for they talked together concerning his decease to 
be accomplished at Jerusalem ; by Christ's teachings 
on other occasions, and particularly on the occasion 
described above, which was most clear and explicit. 

3. Peter suggested a turning away from the 
cross; he said, "Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall 
not be unto thee." The divine plan was not in his 
thought; he was ready to oppose it, yet he did this 
with the best of motives. He felt perfectly com- 
petent to advise the Master. This shows that it is 
not always safe to act on well-meant advice that pro- 
ceeds from ignorance, no matter howsoever friendly 
the spirit may be. The qualifications of a true 
adviser are disinterested friendship and comprehen- 
siveness of view. 

4. Christ's reply is wonderful for its wisdom and 
its far-reaching application, "He that saves his life 
shall lose it." To turn aside from Calvary might 
save my life in a small, unimportant sense, but it 
would also lose my life. To fail in the accomplish- 
ment of the end of life is to lose one's life. "What 
shall a man be profited if he shall gain the whole 

(16) 



230 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

world and forfeit his life?" This means that to miss 
the end of being is to forfeit life. 

I. This incident shows that there are two lives 
possible to every man: one great and important, the 
other small and unimportant. 

1. There is the outward, material, physical life, 
with its appetites, passions, lusts and desires; with 
the ambitions and purposes that are realized in the 
life bounded by time. It is possible for a man to 
make this life his actual life to which he gives his 
thought and effort. It is possible for him to live 
for the ease and comfort and gratification of the 
body; for the hopes and ambitions confined to this 
world, and, alas! this is just what the majority of 
men are doing. 

2. Then, there is the inward life of desires, mo- 
tives, purposes and aims that are intellectual, moral 
and spiritual, and the activities growing out of these. 
The life into which enter the hopes, desires and 
aspirations that reach out to the infinite and eternal. 
These are set over the one against the other. Christ 
says, "He that saves his life shall lose it;" that is, 
he that saves the outward life shall lose the spir- 
itual. He that saves the temporal shall lose the 
eternal. "What shall a man be profited if he shall 
gain the whole world and forfeit his life ?'* The 
man who does not realize and fulfill his intended 
destiny is an awful failure. There is a prize to be 
won, a mark to be reached, and an end to be gained. 
He that fails, loses his life. 

II. In this incident we get a suggestion as to 
the true nature of profit and loss. 

"What shall a man be profited?" This language 
teaches that true riches are not material things. 



THE NATURE OF PROFIT AND LOSS 231 

Would not a man have a large profit if he should 
gain the whole world? This present world, ot 
course, is meant. This is generally regarded as a 
most valuable thing. The man who secures much 
of the things of this world is looked upon as an 
eminently successful man. Christ, in one sentence, 
reaches the climax of argument. The whole world 
is vastly more than any one man may ever hope to 
secure, but Christ says, suppose this were possible, 
a man might have it all, and "forfeit his life ;" that 
is, really have nothing. A man might have a title 
to the whole earth, and have all the worldly honor 
and position that men can bestow, and really be a 
pauper, a beggar, in the sight of God. There is 
nothing external to the man that he can lay his 
hand upon, that is really an asset of value in God's 
sight. Even this physical life, when set over against 
the true end or purpose of life, has no value. Better 
die than miss the true end of being, which is the 
real life. 

2. True riches are soul riches ; these always 
endure. These alone qualify man for the accomplish- 
ment of his mission; without these life will be a 
failure, no matter what it may be in other respects. 
The true assets of life can not be listed, in stocks 
and bonds, nor told in terms of dollars and cents. 
On the real ledger of life are listed divine love for 
God and men, sympathy, purity of heart, largeness 
of purpose, unselfishness, fidelity to duty, courage 
to meet and discharge the obligations imposed by 
God. This is life. Peter said, escape physical 
death ; Christ said to do so would be loss of life ; 
"Get thee behind me, Satan," or adversary; you 
would cause me to stumble and fall ; you would rob 



232 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

me of my crown. To get the world and miss the 
end for which I came into the world, would be to 
lose all. To be a true man is to be rich; to get 
the world and fail in this, is to be poor, yet, alas! 
how many trade off the largest possible possessions 
for less than nothing. Esau, who sold his birth- 
right for a mess of pottage, is an omnipresent 
character. 

III. The principle here enunciated by Christ is 
far-reaching in its scope. It applies to every part 
of life. 

1. It applies to a young person when he is 
called upon to leave home for the first time and 
go out into the w r orld, which is a crisis-moment 
for the individual. It constitutes an epoch in life. 
The old home life is a very blessed thing, but in 
the nature of the case it can not always endure ; it 
is only for the young man or woman up to a certain 
time. To hold onto it longer would be to save the 
small life and lose the larger life ; it would be to 
miss the purpose of life. 

2. It applies to a young person who enters 
school for a course of training. At once he is liable 
to meet very seductive influences. He will face the 
temptation to get social enjoyment, for which there 
is such abundant opportunity. He will meet the 
temptation to get pleasure, which appeals so strongly 
to the young. He will meet the temptation to save 
himself from the grind and wear of routine and 
drudgery incident to school life;, this means that he 
will be tempted to get through school on the easiest 
possible lines by choosing easy studies and avoiding 
all severe tests, and by taking short cuts to the 
coveted goal ; to him the language of Christ ap- 



A GREAT PRINCIPLE APPLIED 233 

plies, "Whosoever would save his life shall lose it." 

3. It applies to any man entering upon any form 
of business or professional life. There is always a 
temptation to secure ease, and avoid what seems to 
be unnecessary effort. Hard labor is not a pleasant 
thing for many. The rugged path to success is 
shunned ; the easy, short road is chosen in pref- 
erence. In other words, there is a disposition to 
save the present moment at the risk of the great 
future. Here Christ's language applies with telling 
force : "Whosoever would save his life shall lose it." 

The man who establishes a home, raises a family 
and performs his true functions in the world, loses ; 
what seems to be a very beautiful life, to do it; 
and his children must follow in his footsteps. The 
student, who wins the honors of his class and the 
high respect of his teachers and fellow-students, loses 
a very pleasant and attractive life to accomplish the 
great end. The successful business or professional 
man who honors himself, his fellowman, and his 
God, and is a blessing to the world in which he lives, 
loses a life of ease to do it. 

This principle is of constant application. In an 
important sense, every day must be lost in order to 
be saved, and this is the reason why there are so 
many failures in this world ; men will not pay the 
price of true success. 

IV. We discover in this language and conduct 
of Christ some principles necessary to highest suc- 
cess. 

1. Christ could face a disagreeable duty without 
flinching, and make everything stand aside for duty's 
sake. To do right was everything; the suffering 
entailed was nothing. Get behind me, Peter, the 



2C4 THE COMMISSIOX EXECUTED 

cross is the goal ; this is my life ; the suffering is not 
to be considered. 

2. He knew that he who would have followers 
must be a leader. He said, "If any man would come 
after me ;" He knew that He must go before. Many 
men hesitate at this point ; they can not go out alone. 
They lack initiative ; they want a precedent. Such 
men can not be leaders. This does not mean that 
all can not be useful. Good followers are just as 
important as good leaders, but to have followers a 
man must go ahead and say, "Come on!" 

3. He did not treat duty as a matter of expe- 
diency. He did not say, "Shall I go; ought I to 
go?" but He said, "I must go." It is never proper to 
say, "Ought I?" when duty is involved, when duty 
is clear. "Ought" is a word that indicates doubt 
as to duty. 

4/ He did not wait to see who would follow; 
many are ready to go as soon as the crowd is ready; 
being assured of the temper of the crowd, they are 
glad to assume the leadership. Many apparent 
leaders are, after all, mere followers of the crowd 
they profess to lead; not so with Christ; "I must 
go up to Jerusalem," whether anybody else goes or 
not. This is true heroism. Duty never waits for 
the crowd. 

5. He kept things in their proper relation and 
in their true perspective. Notice how He rushes 
things to the climax. After death came resurrection ; 
"Raised again the third day." Never make death 
the end. If that were true, who could endure? 
After resurrection came glory; "For the Son of man 
shall come in his glory." Alas ! we want the glory 
to come first. After glory came kingdom. "There 



THE PROPER RELATION OF THINGS 235 

are some of them that stand here who shall in no 
wise taste death till they see the Son of man coming 
in his kingdom." The life that ends in the grave is 
the life of the brute. God places a golden ladder 
before every man, the first round of which is death; 
the second, resurrection; the third, glory, and the 
fourth, kingdom ; for we are told we may reign as 
kings and priests for ever and ever. 

The first part of the picture may not be especially 
attractive. To see a man walking with a cross on 
his shoulder, is not a pleasant sight. Look at the 
picture; Christ walking at the head of the column 
with a cross on his shoulder, saying, "Follow me." 
Then come Peter, and James, and John, and Paul, 
and all the others, with crosses, following in order. 
The procession enlarges; we see, with but little 
stretch of imagination, Polycarp, and Justin Martyn, 
and Savonarola, and Huss, and Wycliffe, and Lat- 
imer, and Ridley, and a mighty procession extend- 
ing down through the ages, all bearing crosses. 
Luther and Calvin, Wesley and Knox, follow in 
order, all bearing the cross. As the procession ad- 
vances and the rear comes to view, we see Wharton, 
and Josephine Smith, Carrie Goodrich, and many 
whom I delight to call my own boys and girls, all 
bearing crosses, and I feel almost ready to say, 
"Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace, for mine 
eyes have seen thy salvation. " 

But this does not complete the picture. By faith 
we look beyond the mists and storms of time, and 
the head of the column of cross-bearers approaches 
the shining gates of the new Jerusalem, and the 
cry is heard, "Who are these arrayed in white robes, 
and whence came they?" and the answer is heard: 



236 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

"These are they who have come up through great 
tribulation, and have washed their robes and made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb/' These are 
the cross-bearers that followed their great Leader, 
but now, thank God, the cross has been dropped, 
and the crown has been won ; this is the end of the 
procession that went out weeping, but is now re- 
turning with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with 
them. 



CHAPTER XXI. 
Leaving the First Love. 

Text. — Rev. 2:4: "But I have this against thee, that thou 
didst leave thy first love." This was written to the church 
at Ephesus. 

I look upon these letters to the seven churches in 
Asia as not only of specific, but of general, applica- 
tion. Seven is a perfect number when used sym- 
bolically. It represents perfection or completion. It 
is a definite part put for the indefinite whole, and 
it has great prominence in the Book of Revelation. 

The number twelve is also a perfect number, but 

is used with reference to holy and sacred things 

more explicitly. Seven may symbolically represent 

either good or bad, and is so used. We have the 

seven spirits of God spoken of, and we are told that 

seven devils were cast out of Mary Magdalen. There 

were more than seven churches in Asia, but seven 

churches are singled out and made representative, I 

take it, of the churches at large, of all times and 

places. The faults and failures and virtues of these 

churches are representative of the faults, failures 

and virtues of churches generally. Here any church 

may read its biography in prophetic outline. Here 

it may find its diseases and the prescription of the 

Great Physician. Here it may see its commendable 

traits and gain the approval of its divine Head. I 

mav also add that the principles involved in these 

237 



238 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

letters apply not only to church but to individual 
life. We should, therefore, in our study, search for 
the great principles involved with a view of prac- 
tical application. 

In studying this passage we are led to consider: 

I. The greatest thing in the world. 

Henry Drummond has, in a most admirable way, 
set forth what he calls "the greatest thing in the 
world." This, as he very properly shows, is the 
great principle of love, but that this may be fully 
apparent, let us approach it by logical and necessary 
steps. 

1. The greatest thing in the world is man. 

(1) I have stood in the midst of great moun- 
tains, towering aloft in awe-inspiring grandeur, and 
they spoke to me a wonderful language. They told 
me of the omnipotence of God, who laid their 
granite foundations and piled up the courses of their 
stupendous masonry, putting to shame the most 
gigantic human efforts. Then I have said, "How 
weak a thing is man ! how insignificant his attain- 
ments !" 

(2) I have stood upon the pebbly beach and have 
looked out upon the boundless deep that throws its 
mighty arms around the continents and holds them 
in perpetual embrace, and its voice proclaimed the 
greatness of Him who holds the ocean in the hollow 
of his hand, and whose whisper stills its tumultuous 
billows. Then I have said, "How impotent a thing 
is man !" 

(3) I have stood beside the majestic river, on 
whose bosom floats the commerce of a continent, 
and its mighty and unceasing current spoke of the 
eternity of Him who pours out its unending supplies 



THE GREATEST THING 239 

from his unwasting fullness, and I have said, "How 
transient a thing is man!" 

(4) I have looked out into the boundless fields 
of space in which countless stars run their ordained 
courses, and myriads of suns burn in undimmed 
luster; then I have said, w r ith the Psalmist of old, 
"What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the 
son of man that thou visitest him?" 

(5) I have looked upon the little babe as it 
nestled fondly in its mother's bosom, and have con- 
templated its heavenly origin and heavenly destiny, 
its kinship to celestial intelligences, and its latent 
undeveloped powers, and I have said, "What is all 
material nature, when compared to this tiny being 
made in the divine image and likeness, and destined 
to live in growing measure of knowledge and power, 
after the heavens shall have passed away as a scroll, 
and the elements shall have melted in fervent heat?" 
Truly, it has been said, the greatest thing in the 
world is man. No wonder the Scriptures place upon 
him an exalted dignity and lift him to the very 
summit of creation, and make him the center around 
which all divine movement revolves. 

2. But if man is the greatest thing in the world, 
mind is the greatest thing in man. Here is the 
divine spark that marks his heavenly kinship and 
establishes his celestial origin. It is mind that places 
in his hand the scepter of dominion over the world 
in which he dwells, and presents to him the tele- 
scope of faith through which the treasures of God's 
vast eternity are revealed as his destined inheritance. 

3. But if the greatest thing in the world is man, 
and the greatest thing in man is mind, the greatest thing 
in mind is love. Intelligence may tunnel the moun- 



240 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

tain, navigate rivers and oceans, harness the light- 
ning and make it the docile slave of man ; yea, it 
may number and weigh the very stars of heaven, 
and determine the laws by which they are governed, 
but it can not command the love of a single heart; 
it can not satisfy the yearnings of a single soul ; it 
can not call forth those divine activities that make 
for man's true progress, and insure the realization 
of that to which his aspiration points. It is love 
that ushers man into the true paradise of the soul 
and permits him to taste of those joys that never 
cloy, and those pleasures that endure forevermore. 
It is love that takes the hardness and drudgery out 
of toil, the slavery out of service, and the bitterness 
out of every sore experience. It is love that binds 
hearts together in unselfish fellowship and drives 
away the demons of distrust and hate and fear. A 
home lined with the gold of love is earth's most 
sacred sanctuary, and the nearest approach to heaven 
itself that mortals here may know. No wonder the 
Scriptures give to it the highest place. "Little chil- 
dren, love one another/' "If ye love me, keep my 
commandments." "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou 
me?" "Thou shalt love the Lord tl.y God with all 
thy might and mind and strength, and thy neighbor 
as thyself." "Now abideth faith, hope, love; these 
three, but the greatest of these is love." Even God 
himself in his essence is declared to be love. 

The Scriptures, however, teach what all experience 
and observation show, that even : 

II. The greatest thing in the world may be 
perverted. 

1. There is a love that is native and spontaneous 
and pure, and consequently divine, and a love that 



PERVERTING THE GREATEST THING 241 

is secondary, artificial, unnatural and hence Satanic. 
This latter sort of love is condemned and branded 
with the divine disapproval, and, sad to say, it is 
possible, not only to an individual, but to a church, 
as the passage read shows. Christ, through the 
apostle John, says to the church at Ephesus, "I 
have this against thee, that thou hast left thy first 
love." 

2. I look upon this utterance as embodying a 
great principle of wide application, which we do 
well to study. The principle involved in this lan- 
guage seems to be, that to leave the first, the native, 
the divine love of the soul, for a secondary, unnat- 
ural and artificial love, insures the divine displeasure. 
This must always be the case when any power or 
propensity is turned from its natural and divinely 
intended use to that which is unnatural and un- 
worthy. We sing the beautiful sentiment: 

"Love is the golden chain that binds 
Our happy souls above; 
And he's an heir of heaven that finds 
His bosom glow with love." 

But let us remember that this is only true of the 
native, spontaneous, primitive love of the soul. The 
perverted, abnormal love is also a chain that binds, 
but, alas ! it binds the soul to that which degrades 
and destroys. If the true love binds the soul to 
heaven, the perverted love binds the soul to hell. No 
wonder it incurs the divine displeasure. That this 
may be more apparent, let us consider: 

III. Some specific examples of the perversion of 
the greatest thing in the world. 

1. This principle applies to the love of nature, 



242 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

as distinguished from the purely artificial and unnat- 
ural affections. Man's primitive, spontaneous love is 
for God's great world of nature. He first loves the 
earth and sky, the fields and plains, the trees and 
birds, the flowers and purling brooks, the meandering 
rivers and the heavens studded with the diamonds of 
God's setting. It is a sad thing when man leaves 
the love of nature, whose "visible forms" speak to him 
such a "wondrous language," for the meaner, arti- 
ficial things of man's creation. The man who gives 
up the love of nature for the love of the artificial, 
will soon become unnatural and artificial. The nat- 
ural spontaneity of the soul will soon be displaced 
by the shams and conventionalities of false, unreal 
life. God's great heroes have lived close to the heart 
of nature. Moses was taken from artificial court 
life to dwell forty years in the desert of Midian, 
where he could commune with nature and thus 
fortify and strengthen this primitive native love of 
the soul. Paul, immediately after his conversion, was 
taken down into Arabia, where for three years he 
dwelt in nature's school, that the influence of the 
shams and counterfeits of city life might be dis- 
placed as he felt the throbbings of nature's great 
heart, undisturbed by the conventionalities of artifi- 
cial life. Alexander Campbell lived in close touch 
with nature. His great thoughts were born amidst 
the rustling of leaves, the singing of birds and the 
babbling of brooks. Gladstone's soul never ceased 
to respond to the voice of nature. In fact, no other 
voice with him was so enticing. Once, as he walked 
amidst the trees of the forest, when diplomats sought 
to gain his attention, he looked into an oak and said, 
"Do you see that mistletoe?" The voice of nature 



THE PRINCIPLE APPLIED 243 

was so loud he could hear nothing else. The man 
who can hear the voice of nature will be able to 
distinguish the true from the false as no other man 
can do. I believe a school for the discipline of the 
young should be located where the student may come 
into close contact with nature. There may be rea- 
sons why a school for specialization should be placed 
in the heart of a great city, but a school for discipline 
loses a great part of its value when so located. To 
all who give up the love of nature for a secondary 
love, Jesus says, "I have this against thee, that thou 
didst leave thy first love." 

2. This principle applies to domestic ties as dis- 
tinguished from all other interests that claim and 
hold the affections of men : 

Our first earthly love is for father, mother, hus- 
band, wife and children, and it is a sad day when the 
heart allows another love to crowd this love out or 
force it into a secondary place. A clubroom may 
have some legitimate place in our social economy, 
when properly conducted, but when it usurps in the 
heart of a man the place of home, it is a thing to be 
deplored. To such a man Christ says, "I have this 
against thee, that thou didst leave thy first love." 

The boy may give up- the love of father and 
mother and home, for the love of the saloon and 
card-table and the society of depraved men, but the 
Anathema of God is upon him. Christ says to him, 
T have this against thee, that thou didst leave thy 
first love." 

The husband and wife may give up that first pure 
affection for life's companion for a second and guilty 
love, but angels will weep and only demons in hell 



244 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

approve. Jesus says to such, "I have this against 
thee, that thou didst leave thy first love. ,, 

A poodle dog may have some use, but when the 
love of a mother's heart, or the love that is natural 
and native to the mother heart, is transferred from 
her offspring to a poodle dog, Jesus says to such an 
one, "I have somewhat against thee, that thou didst 
leave thy first love." 

3. This principle applies to the native confidence 
of the human soul. Man is normally a being of con- 
fidence and trust. Children are strikingly trustful. 
They believe in people naturally. They trust not 
only father and mother, but usually everybody with 
whom they come in contact. The instincts of chil- 
dren may cause them to shrink from notoriously bad 
men, but normally and generally they trust men. All 
great souls believe in men. When a man says, "I 
have no faith in men," he is to be pitied. It shows 
that the native confidence of the soul is lost. To 
such an one the language of the text applies with 
peculiar force ; "I have this against thee, that thou 
didst leave thy first love." 

4. This principle applies, as in this case, to the 
church, and hence to spiritual things. Man's su- 
preme love is for God. .True, the object or person 
loved as God, may be unworthy of the soul, but the 
principle of love for God is native and spontaneous. 
From this it follows that the first love of a church 
is for God. This carries with it certain correlatives : 

(1) Love of the brethren. Brotherly love is char- 
acteristic of a true church, everywhere and always. 
When brotherly love is lacking the church has left 
its first love. 

(2) Love for God's Word. The Word of God 



THE PRINCIPLE APPLIED 245 

is to the true church the sweetest of all music. It 
is more attractive than the most gorgeous temple. 
Such a church needs no special attraction to draw 
and hold its membership. When a church has to 
resort to all manner of seductive devices to secure 
the attendance of its members at its services, it 
has taken its place with the church at Ephesus. It 
has left its first love. 

(3) Love for humanity at large. No one can 
truly love God and not love all his works, and, most 
of all, God's crowning work, which is man. To a 
church in possession of its primitive love, the mis- 
sionary spirit is natural and spontaneous. Its love 
overleaps all boundaries, disregards all artificial bar- 
riers that men have erected. It yearns for all men 
as a mother yearns for a lost child. This was doubt- 
less the trouble at Ephesus. The members had 
ceased to love one another as in the beginning: they 
had grown distrustful and envious. They had lost 
their love of Goers word, and maybe preferred lec- 
tures on philosophy and science. They had become 
proud and vain, and wanted, perhaps, a costly temple 
with gorgeous appointments. They had become nar- 
row and sectarian, and thought most about them- 
selves * and but little of the needs of the regions 
beyond. They still possessed many good traits ; their 
external morals seem to have been good. They were 
careful not to be imposed upon by false teachers. 
They had been able even to suffer persecution with 
patience, but they had one great fault, they had left 
their "first love." To them, and all such churches, 
Jesus says, "I have this againft Miee, that thou didst 
leave thy first love. Remember, therefore, from 
whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first 

(17) 



246 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

works, or else I come to thee and will remove thy 
candlestick out of its place except thou repent. ,, 

Are you allowing the first pure love of the soul, 
which in its supreme manifestations is love to God, 
to be displaced by a secondary love, a false love, a 
perverted love, a love of the sins and frivolities and 
vanities of the world? If so, remember from whence 
thou art fallen, and repent and thus secure the 
unqualified approval of the Master. 



CHAPTER XXII. 
The Intermediate State,* 

Read Luke 16 : 19-31. 

Text. — Heb. 9: 15: "And for this cause he is the mediator 
of the New Testament, that by means of his death, for the re- 
demption of the transgressions that were under the first testa- 
ment, they which are called might receive the promise of 
eternal inheritance." 

The question as to what man's condition is be- 
tween death and the resurrection, is one of the 
deepest interest. It is second only in importance to 
the question of our final condition after the resur- 
rection of the dead and the general judgment. There 
are some who hold that the soul sleeps in an uncon- 
scious state; in other words, that the soul has no 
conscious existence between the time of death and 
the time of the resurrection. Again, there are many 
who believe that the soul has a conscious existence 
after death, but that it dwells in an intermediate 
state, pending the resurrection, and the general judg- 
ment, after which it enters heaven or hell, as the 
case may be decided. We consequently hear persons 
speak of the three states of man : the fleshy, the 
intermediate, and the eternal. 

It is the purpose of this chapter to ascertain, 
if possible, what reason, and the Bible teach con- 



*For the general line of thought in this sermon, I am in- 
debted to a sermon of J. B. Briney on this subject which I 
heard him deliver. As to whether it is in print, I do not know, 
heard him deliver. As to whether or not it is in print I do not 
know. 247 



248 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

cerning an intermediate state. If the soul is kept 
in an intermediate state between death and the resur- 
rection, and its final dwelling-place is not fixed dur- 
ing this long and indefinite period, there ought 
to be a reason discoverable. I am less and less 
inclined to look upon God's dealings with man 
as arbitrary. If man is kept in this intermediate 
state, it must be that either the state of the soul or 
circumstances and conditions demand it. We may 
rest assured it is not an arbitrary matter on the 
part of God. 

I. First, then, let us ask, "What does reason 
seem to teach us on this important question ?" 

1. Since man is the child of God, and God reveals 
himself to us as a very loving Father, we would 
naturally conclude that he would go at death imme- 
diately into the presence of his Father, unless there 
are reasons that preclude such a happy consumma- 
tion. The advocates of an intermediate state build 
their argument as follows : They tell us that man is 
finally to be judged for the deeds done in the body; 
that this judgment is to take place at the end of the 
present dispensation; that pending this judgment it 
would be illogical and impossible to admit man into 
heaven, and that, consequently, he must necessarily 
be kept in an intermediate state. It will at once be 
seen that in this view of the case, man's destiny is 
not fixed at death, or, at least, that it is not known. 
The soul is consequently kept in uncertainty as to 
its final fate, living, as it were, in a state of suspense 
through centuries and millenniums awaiting the final 
judgment. Can this be possible? Then we may 
well shrink from death. If we are nlunged into this 
awful uncertainty, and are compelled to remain in 



THE LEADING OF REASON 249 

that condition indefinitely, death is certainly some- 
thing to be dreaded. Such does not seem to have 
been the idea of Paul when he said, "I desire to 
depart and be with Christ." "While we are home in 
the body, we are absent from the Lord ;" but we are 
"willing rather to be absent from the body and present 
with the Lord." He then declared to his brethren 
that he was willing, for their sakes, to forego, for a 
time, the unspeakable bliss of being associated with 
the Master whom he served. He also declared that 
he knew a man, no doubt referring to himself, caught 
up into the third heaven, whether in the body or out 
of the body, he could not tell. This third heaven 
was the place where God dwells. It is incidentally 
taught in this passage that when the soul passes 
out of the body, it will go into the presence of God. 
But the question is asked, "Why the necessity of 
judgment if the question is definitely settled at death, 
and the souls of the righteous are admitted to the 
presence of God?" I answer, perhaps our -concep- 
tions of the general judgment may be entirely at 
fault. We get our ideas from our knowledge of our 
ordinary courts of justice, where the man is tried 
and the evidence brought to establish his guilt or 
innocence, and the decision held in abeyance until 
all the evidence is in. This can scarcely be the idea 
of the general judgment that the Bible speaks of. 
The question as to man's condition has certainly 
been decided long before that time. The general 
judgment, doubtless, consists of a formal winding up 
of the affairs of the great remedial system when the 
work of Christ, so far as man is concerned, will have 
been accomplished, and Christ will deliver up the 
kindom to God the Father. Doubtless there will 



250 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

be a formal announcement of the stupendous results, 
and the righteous, who are already separated from 
the wicked, as it seems by the account, will formally 
be approved and the wicked formally condemned, 
although each man has doubtless long since learned 
the fate in store for him. It will also serve to show 
to men and angels the grounds of God's action. 
Furthermore, if there be an intermediate state, it 
does not follow that souls that enter this state are 
ignorant of their final doom. The parable of Christ 
concerning Dives and Lazarus shows that imme- 
diately upon death Lazarus went to Abraham's 
bosom, and Dives went to a place of torment. This 
was before the general judgment, because Dives 
wanted Abraham to send Lazarus back to warn his 
brethren who were still living on earth ; therefore, 
the parable teaches that a separation takes place im- 
mediately after death. Now, whether Dives were in 
the intermediate state, or whether Lazarus was in 
heaven and Dives in hell, it matters not, so far as 
the parable affects the doctrine of the general judg- 
ment. The teaching of the parable is that the judg- 
ment, so far as determining the destiny of man, is 
passed at death. Therefore, we may not suppose 
that the soul remains in ignorance of its final doom 
during the long period between death and the resur- 
rection. I believe, however, that when Christ deliv- 
ered the parable, there was an intermediate state for 
reasons which will appear later. 

2. I next call attention to the separation that 
exists between man and God, and the cause pro- 
ducing separation. 

The first view we have of man, as he is pictured 
to us in the Book of Genesis, is a very beautiful 



THE CAUSE OF SEPARATION FROM GOD 251 

one. Man and God seem to be living together in 
the most familiar and loving intercourse. God is 
represented as coming into the garden and walking 
with Adam in the cool of the day. There seems to 
have been no separation between man and God. 
The reason is not hard to discover. Man was inno- 
cent and pure. His soul was unstained by sin, and 
consequently he was a fit person for the companion- 
ship of God. But soon the picture changes; man 
disobeyed God and fell from his high state, and 
immediately separation took place. We find man 
hiding away from God in guilt and fear, and God 
sending his voice after him saying, "Adam, where 
art thou?" What caused the separation? The 
answer is, sin had separated between man and God, 
and this is the answer that is given throughout God's 
Word. "Our sins have separated between us and 
God." This is illustrated in the case of David. At 
one time he said, "The Lord leads me." And then 
again he said, "Why standest thou afar off, O my 
God?" At one time a sense of nearness; at another 
there was a felt distance. Doubtless the latter feel- 
ing was caused by his knowledge of some grievous 
sin or fault. In our own experience we have a sense 
of God's nearness at one time, and of being far away 
from God at another time. Sin causes the feeling 
of separation. When we are faithful in performance 
of duty we feel close to God, and when we are 
remiss, or are consciously guilty of overt acts of 
sin,' God seems to stand afar off. What then is the 
logical conclusion? Surely this: That whenever sin 
is taken away, the cause of separation being gone, 
man will be permitted again to come into the imme- 
diate presence of God. But when is the sin taken 



252 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

completely away? Not so long as we are in the 
flesh. Our sins have been pardoned, but we have a 
body whose lusts are sinful, and as long as we 
inhabit this sinful ■ body we must, in a sense, at 
least, be separated from God. While through the 
mediation of Christ we may approach him and 
commune with him, yet we can not come into his 
immediate presence with this sinful body, but the 
soul cleansed by the blood of Christ may come into 
the presence of its Maker. I consequently hold that 
the verdict of reason is against the doctrine of an 
intermediate state at the present time. 

II. A study of God's unfolding plan of redemp- 
tion shows that previous to the establishment of the 
new institution, an intermediate state was a logical 
necessity. 

1. Immediately upon the introduction of sin into 
the world, God's purpose to save man from the 
consequence of his disobedience is revealed in the 
promise that the seed of the woman shall bruise the 
head of the serpent. Thence onward until the offer- 
ing of Christ on Calvary, we have the gradual un- 
folding of that great purpose. We have the smoking 
altar and its victim, both under the patriarchal and 
Jewish dispensations. Four thousand years rolled 
by while man came, according to the divine appoint- 
ment, and offered his victim for the sin of his soul. 
During this entire period the fact of sin is kept 
prominent, and also the symbolic promise of deliver- 
ance is held up. God also embodies his great pur- 
pose of deliverance in a promise to Abraham, saying 
that in him and in his seed should all the families 
of the earth be blessed. Twice this promise is 
repeated, and, in harmony with it, the chosen nation 



NO ACTUAL PARDON BEFORE CHRIST 253 

is brought out of bondage and put into possession 
of the promised land, and a most wonderful cere- 
monial law is given which was observed through 
fifteen hundred years, until the coming of the prom- 
ised Messiah. But, as yet, no actual pardon had 
taken place ; not a single sin had been forgiven. 
All the victims slain on patriarchal and Jewish 
altars had only served to stay the penalty, and point 
forward to a great sacrifice that was to be made on 
Calvary. What then, it may be asked, was accom- 
plished by all these wonderful ceremonies, and this 
long line of slain victims, running through thou- 
sands of years? Simply this: the sins of those who 
offered the victims were laid forward year by year. 
There was a remembrance made of sin again every 
year, until finally Christ came and made the offering 
that was efficacious, of which the animal victims 
were merely prophetic. Apostolic teaching on this 
point is very clear. Rom. 3:20: "Therefore, by 
the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified 
in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of 
sin." Rom. 3:24, 25: "Being justified freely by his 
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 
whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through 
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for 
the remission of sins that are past, thfough the 
forbearance of God." Heb. 10: 11-18: " "And every 
priest standeth daily ministering, and offering often- 
times the same sacrifice, the which can never take 
away sins. But this man after he had offered one sac- 
rifice for sins forever sat down on the right hand 
of God: From henceforth expecting till his enemies 
be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath 
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof 



254 THE COMMISSI OX EXECUTED 

the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us; for after 
that he had said before. This is the covenant that 
I will make with them after those days, saith the 
Lord ; I will put my laws into their hearts, and in 
their minds will I write them. And their sins and 
iniquities will I remember no more. Xow where 
remission of these is. there is no more offering for 
sin." Under the old dispensation, sin was remem- 

- i again; under the new dispensation, when once 
taken away by the blood of Christ, it is remembered 
no more. Heb. 11:32, : . 40: "And what shall 
I say more? for the time would fail me to tell of 
Gideon, and Barak and of Samson, and of Jepthae : 
of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets. ' 
* * "And these all, having obtained a good report 
through faith, received not the promise: God having 
provided some better thing for us. that they without 
us should not be made perfect/ 1 

This invests the death of Christ with a double 
significance. It looked backward: Christ died for 
the sins of those who had lived before his time. 
It also looked forward : he died for those who should 
live afterward. He was the one sacrifice offered in 
the midst of the : r the s:::s of the world. In 

all the years that had passed before he came, there 
was no actual pardon. Xow let us ask what is the 
*ical demand in this case. Since oarates 

between man and God, the sin not having been 
actually removed, no one. even at death, could go 
into the immediate presence of God. There must 
have been, of necessity, an intermediate state, where 
the righteous dead might dwell, awaiting the great 
consummation of the actual taking away of sins 
bv the blood of Christ. 



THE WORK OF CHRIST 255 

III. We are now prepared to consider in all its 
wonderful fullness the work of Christ and its results. 

1. Christ came to restore fully the broken con- 
nection between man and God. We read, "As in 
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made 
alive." "Sin entered into the world, and death by 
sin, and so death passed upon all men for that all 
have sinned." But Christ came to destroy the 
works of the devil and consequently to give eternal 
life to as many as shall believe on his name. God 
had said to Abraham, "In thy seed shall all the families 
of the earth be blessed." Christ is declared to be 
the promised seed. In him the promise to Abra- 
ham is fulfilled. As Christ was approaching the 
cross he said, "What shall I say? Father, save me 
from this hour? but for this hour came I into the 
world." Again, he said, "Father, if it be possible, 
let this cup pass, nevertheless not my will, but 
thine, be done." On the cross he exclaimed, "My 
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" This 
passage has a deep and far-reaching meaning. Christ 
seemed to have a consciousness of a separation be- 
tween him and God. God, he declared, had forsaken 
him. Now, as sin is the only thing that can sep- 
arate between the soul and God, sin must have sep- 
arated between Christ and God, but Christ had no 
actual sin, therefore if sin separated it must have 
been imputed sin, and this fully accords with the 
inspired teaching. "He bare in his own body our 
sins upon the tree." When God laid upon him my 
sin and your sin, the natural consequence took place, 
which was a separation between Christ and God. 
But finally we hear him say, "It is finished." Type 
and prophecy have been fulfilled ; he has accom- 



256 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

plished the great work for which he came. He has 
made the sin-offering which was to take away the 
sin of the world. Now, for the first time, the sins 
of the patriarchs, the sins of the faithful dead, could 
be actually taken away, and now, for the first time, a 
full salvation could be preached. 

2. This brings to view very fully the perfect 
work of Christ. For all those who had lived prior 
to his coming in obedience to the law, he took 
away sin ; for those who will come after he offers 
a free and full pardon, on plainly expressed terms. 
Therefore, before ascending to heaven he gave a 
great commission : "Go into all the world and preach 
the gospel to every creature; he that believeth and 
is baptized, shall be saved." "Thus it is written and 
thus it behooved Christ to suffer that repentance and 
remission of sin should be preached, in his name, 
among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. " Note 
now the apostolic teaching; sin for the first time is 
actually taken away. Rom. 8:1: "There is there- 
fore now no condemnation to them which are in 
Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after 
the Spirit." Rom. 11:26, 27: "And so all Israel 
shall be saved as it is written. There shall come out 
of Zion the Deliverer, and shall take away ungod- 
liness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto 
them, when I shall take away their -sins." Heb. 12: 
22, 23: "But ye are come unto mount Zion and 
unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jeru- 
salem, and to innumerable hosts of angels, to the 
general assembly and church of the firstborn, who are 
enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and 
to the spirits of just men made perfect." 

This is a very suggestive expression — "spirits of 



THE LOGICAL DEMANDS 257 

just men made perfect." Before the death of Christ 
they had not been made perfect, but now by that 
offering they had been perfected. But not only was 
the sin to be actually taken away, but it was to be 
remembered no more. Heb. 10: 16, 17: "This is 
the covenant that I will make with them after those 
days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws on their 
heart and upon their mind also will I write them ; 
and their sins and their iniquities will I remember 
no more. ,, Under the old dispensation sin was re- 
membered again every year. 

3. What are the logical demands in the case in 
the light of this teaching? Evidently the same con- 
clusion we reached when discussing the question 
from the standpoint of reason. The cause of the 
separation being taken away, the effect should also 
disappear. Nothing can keep a sinless soul from 
Christ, and as the sin was now actually taken away, 
the intermediate state was no longer a necessity. 

We are told that when Christ arose, the bodies 
of many of the saints arose and were seen in Jeru- 
salem, and that Christ, as he ascended on high, led 
captive a multitude of captives. We are now enabled 
to see who these captives were and why they had 
been held captives. It is fair to conclude that they 
were the souls of the righteous in the intermediate 
state who had been waiting for the perfect redemp- 
tion of Christ, and when Christ went down into 
the tomb and burst the bars of death, he unlocked 
the prison-house of the unseen world, and let the 
spirits of the righteous dead come forth, and car- 
ried them with him in his triumphal ascent to the 
presence of his Father to take his seat on the 
mediatorial throne. Does not this explanation throw 



258 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

some light on a passage in 1 Pet. 3: 19? "By which 
also he [Christ] went and preached unto the spirits 
in prison ; which sometimes were disobedient/' May 
not this passage, which has always been considered 
mysterious, refer . to the wonderful fact of Christ 
opened the gates of the unseen world and liberated 
the captives, that they might ascend to the Father, 
since now their sins had been actually removed. In 
this view of the case Christ was the preacher that 
preached to the spirits in person, declaring to them 
the gospel of final, complete forgiveness through the 
blood which was shed on Calvary. The Psalmist, 
looking forward to this wonderful consummation, 
declares, "Thou hast led captive a multitude of cap- 
tives. " Also in Eph. 4:8, w r e read: "Wherefore he 
saith when he ascended up on high, He led captivity 
captive, and gave gifts unto men." 

4. This enables us to have a much more vivid 
picture of the scene described by David. 

It was a mighty host that approached the gates 
of heaven when Christ ascended from Olivet. Abra- 
ham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Isaiah, and all the 
mighty prophets of Israel, were in that company, 
and doubtless passed through the uplifted gates and 
entered with him into the presence of the Father. 
They beheld the coronation ceremony when the 
crown was put upon his brow, and when God de- 
clared he should reign until he had put all enemies 
under his feet. He is reigning still, and when he 
shall have put down all rule and authority and 
power, the last enemy that shall be destroyed is 
death ; then he shall give up the kingdom to God, 
the Father, that he may be all in all. This view is 
very consoling. 



SOME IMPORTANT CONCLUSIONS 259 

Some important conclusions follow: 

1. It takes away a large part of the terror of 
death. We are not destined to go into some place 
of confinement to be shut up for unknown ages, but 
the moment the soul passes out of the body it goes 
into the presence of the Lord. 

2. It reconciles us to the loss of our loved ones. 
The loved ones who have gone before are with the 
Father now. They are with the Son, the great 
shepherd of the sheep, who leads them by his hand 
into fountains of living water, and who wipes away 
the tears from their eyes. John in his wonderful 
vision saw a great host that no man could number. 
That host is composed of those who have washed 
their robes and made them white in the blood of 
the Lamb. And at this moment they are assem- 
bled in the presence of God, worshiping him. 

3. It prepares us to understan 1 the description 
of Christ's coming. "Behold/' says Jude, "he comes 
with ten thousand of his saints." We are also told 
that "those that sleep in Jesus will Christ bring with 
him." If we pass over the river of death before 
the coming of Christ, we shall go unto the Father, 
and we shall be with the grand company coming 
out of heaven to welcome those who remain on earth 
at the time of his coming. We will belong to the 
reception committee. 

To me it is a cheering thought that there is no 
prison-house for the righteous now. If Gabriel 
should blow his trumpet at this moment, I should 
expect to look up and see the loved ones coming to 
receive me. 

4. It fills us with joyful anticipation as we 
approach the river of death. I am not going out 



260 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

into a strange country where I shall see no familiar 
face. Although I must say good-bye for a time to 
the friends here, yet presently I shall strike glad 
hands with the friends on the other side who are 
awaiting my coming, and together we shall wait, in 
joyous expectancy, till the other loved ones follow. 
I can do no better than to close with Paul's shout 
of exultation: "O death, where is thy sting? O 
grave, why is thy victory ?" 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
Shall We Know Each Other There? * 

Read Rev. 21 or 22. 

Text. — 2 Sam. 12 : 23 : "But now he is dead, wherefore 
should I fast? Can I bring him hack again? I shall go to 
him, but he shall not return to me." 

1. There is a disposition on the part of some to 
explain away the teaching pertaining to the spiritual 
world to such an extent as to destroy its power. God 
is regarded, not as a person, but as sort of all- 
pervading essence. Satan's personality is denied. 
The Spirit of evil is made to mean simply an evil 
propensity. Heaven is regarded not as a place, but 
as a mere subjective feeling or state. 

The tendency of all this is toward pantheism or 
atheism. The faith necessary to heroic, self-sacri- 
ficing Christian life is destroyed. 

2. If language has any meaning, the Bible 
teaches that heaven is a place, a locality, a fixed 
habitation. What is the natural conclusion from such 
Scriptures- as the following? Rev. 12:7, 8: "And 
there was war in heaven ; Michael and his angels 
going forth to war with the dragon ; and the dragon 
warred, and his angels, and they prevailed not, 



*The thoughts and arguments entering into this sermon are 
not new, but they have been gathered from various sources, 
among which I mention a sermon of the late Dr. Talmage in 
the "Brooklyn Tabernacle." 

(18) 261 



262 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

neither was their place found any more in heaven/' 
2 Cor. 12 : 2 : "I know a man in Christ, fourteen 
years ago (whether in the body I know not; or 
whether out of the body I know not ; God knoweth) ; 
such an one caught up to the third heaven. " Psalm 
24: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates — even lift them 
up, ye everlasting doors ; and let the King of glory 
in." This passage from the Psalms is prophetically 
descriptive of Christ's entrance unto heaven. Christ 
said, "Our Father which art in heaven;" also, "There 
is more joy in heaven." Rev. 21:2: "And I, John, 
saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down 
from God, out of heaven." John 14:2, 3: "In my 
Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, 
I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for 
you." These and many other passages point to 
heaven as a place. 

3. Not only does it ap'pear clear that heaven is a 
place, but equally clear that it is a place of future 
recognition. This is a question of tremendous and 
thrilling interest. No question has power to stir the 
soul more deeply than this. It excites our emotions 
as nothing else can do. We have friends ; we have 
to leave them; shall we see them again? We have 
had friends ; they are gone ; will we ever look into 
their faces again? Could there be a topic of more 
absorbing interest? Cold, indeed, must be the heart 
to which this subject does not appeal. There is no 
hope that has more power to cheer the soul, and if 
there is ground for such a faith it behooves us to 
consider what its foundations are. 

I. To my mind there are only two subjective 
conditions necessary to future recognition: sameness 
of person and fidelity of memory. 



SAMENESS OF. PERSON 263 

1. First, then, do we remain the same person for- 
ever? (1) Unless we do, the doctrine of future reward 
and punishment can have no meaning. If I am 
either rewarded or punished, it will be because I 
remain the same person in the future. If person- 
ality is destroyed, or changed, then neither reward 
nor punishment can follow the individual beyond this 
life. This means that death ends all, so far as men 
are individually concerned. An entire change of 
personality is equivalent to the creation of a new 
feeing. The doctrine of future reward or punish- 
ment rests on identity of personality. (2) The Scrip- 
ture teaching that man is to know himself in the 
future, involves the doctrine of sameness of person. 
In Luke 23:42, we read: "And he said unto Jesus, 
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy 
kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily, I say 
unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." 
Notice also the teaching of Matt. 25:37-40: "Then 
shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when 
saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, 
and gave thee drink?" . . . "Inasmuch as ye did 
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have 
done it unto me." Again, Luke 16:27: "Then he 
said, I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou wouldst 
send him to my father's house : for I have five 
brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they 
also come into this place of torment." Underlying- 
all this teaching is the idea that man remains the 
same person after death as before. Finally, let it 
be observed that the very word "salvation" implies 
identity of person. If the individuality changes, 
there can be no salvation ; to save a thing is to pre- 
serve it, and not to substitute something in its place. 



264 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

Then the first condition of future recognition is 
met; namely, sameness of person. 

2. Let us next notice the question of memory; 
Will memory perdure? 

If we do not recognize our friends in heaven, it 
must be owing to some change in the mind. Should we 
we remain there as here, no better or no worse, recog- 
nition is an assured fact. What are the probabilities? 
(1) We carry friends in our minds up to death; 
will some change in death so affect us that we will 
cease to remember? Memory now owes its lapses to 
imperfections of body. Often a blow on the head 
will destroy memory, or perhaps I should say inter- 
rupt its functions. Persons having met with acci- 
dents that injured the head, have lain for weeks 
unconscious, and even after apparent recovery, mem- 
ory was partially gone. Finally by removing a little 
plug from the skull memory was restored. This 
shows that memory is dependent on the condition of 
the body. In the future state we are to have per- 
fect bodies, spiritual bodies, perfectly adapted to the 
wants of the spirit, hence, no doubt, we will have 
better memories than while here. We are unable now 
to comprehend the nature of a spiritual body, nor is it 
necessary that we should. We may not, however, 
deny its reality because of its mystery. The idea 
of spirit is just as mysterious as the idea of a spir- 
itual body as a habitation for the spirit. (2) The 
fact of a future life implies memory of the present. 
If anything in this life is to be forgotten, it would 
be such things as make the least impression. But 
our friends make the deepest impression; shall we 
not remember them? To say that we will not re- 
member our friends, is equivalent to saying we will 



FIDELITY OF MEMORY 265 

not remember anything. This would mean that 
there is no conscious future life, which is practically 
a denial of the doctrine of immortality. (3) The 
greatest masters of thought teach that the contents 
of memory are indestructible. Impressions may dis- 
appear, but are not lost. A latent impression may 
be reproduced by reproducing the proper conditions. 
Often the mind, excited by disease, calls up old 
impressions. There are many cases on record of 
men who had been apparently drowned, who were 
afterwards resuscitated, whereupon they remembered 
things long forgotten. This argues that nothing is 
ever entirely lost from memory. 

Since heaven will furnish all the conditions neces- 
sary to excite memory, namely, a perfect body and 
the presence of friends, are we not led to the irre- 
sistible conclusion, by identity of person and fidelity 
of memory, that we will know each other there? 

II. Let us, in the next place, direct our minds 
more specifically to what the Scriptures teach on 
this subject. 

1. The language of David when his child died 
bears on this question. 

There is a very sick child in David's house. Dis- 
ease, which stalks boldly into the hut of poverty, 
comes no less boldly into the palace. David is dis- 
tracted with grief; he can neither eat nor sleep. All 
his surroundings of elegance can not drive the 
shadow from his heart. Seven days pass, and at 
last the little sufferer sleeps in death. The attend- 
ants come to bear the news, and David hears them 
whispering and says, "Is the child dead?" "Yes." 
At once he rouses himself and throws off, in a 
measure, his grief, to the astonishment of friends. I 



266 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

ask, what power hushed the tempest in DavicTs 
soul? What strength lifted up the king? It was 
the thought that he would come again into posses- 
sion of the child. No grave-digger could hide him. 
He exclaimed, "I shall go to him, but he can not 
return to me/' Was David wrong? I think not. 
God allowed David to pen this thought for our 
encouragement. Homesick man or woman, you will 
go to see your friends ere long. But, says one, 
this does not say David would know his child. Poor 
consolation, indeed, if this were not true. David 
expected his child to wait for him and welcome him. 
Often I have seen father and mother stand watch- 
ing for my coming as I have returned to them on 
an occasional visit. But I shall never see this again 
in this life. Father and mother have both passed 
away, but it is cheering to believe that they will 
watch for my coming on the other shore, and that 
we shall know each other, and clasp glad hands in a 
reunion that will know no separation. Call this 
sentiment, if you will, but no more blessed hope ever 
enters into the heart of man. 

2. The very phraseology used to express death, 
in the Old Testament, indicated the truth of this 
doctrine. "Abraham died and was gathered to his 
people." How many such expressions we have! 
What people? Does not this mean that Abraham 
went to his friends and comrades who had gone 
before? Does this not mean that he was reunited 
with those who had gone before, in a conscious fel- 
lowship ? 

3. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and 
Elijah appeared talking with Christ. The three dis- 
ciples who were present were enabled to know them, 



FUTURE RECOGNITION SURE 267 

although they had been dead for ages. As to how 
they knew them we are not told, but the fact remains 
that they recognized persons who had once lived on 
the earth, long after they had passed into the future 
world. Shall we not then be able to know our 
friends? Surely this must be so. 

4. Christ used this fact to comfort Mary and 
Martha. Jesus said to Martha, "Thy brother shall 
rise again. " "I know he shall rise again in the 
resurrection, ,, she answered. Christ allowed her to 
believe this, but what comfort would it have been 
could she not know him? 

5. The Bible teaches that the angels know each 
other. They have names to distinguish them, which 
implies recognition. We are to be even higher than 
angels, and shall not we know one another? 

6. Do we know each other here? The Bible 
says we will know better there. "Now we see 
through a glass darkly, but then face to face." We 
beautifully and truly sing, "We shall know each 
other better, when the mists have cleared away." 
We will not be able to hide anything from each 
other there, then. I can not see how any one can 
profess to believe the Bible and not believe this 
doctrine. Did not Dives recognize Lazarus, and did 
not Father Abraham say, "Remember thou hadst thy 
good things" in the former life? Parable, one may 
say, but did the Master teach us a falsehood by the 
parable? Everywhere the New Testament is full 
of the doctrine of future recognition. 

III. A few other considerations which go toward 
establishing this most cheering doctrine are here in- 
troduced. 

1. The general belief and expectancy of the 



268 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

world confirms it. In all lands and all ages this 
faith is found. It is so universal that I argue it as a 
divine intuition. Socrates spoke ecstatically of meet- 
ing Orpheus and Homer; Cicero spoke of meeting 
with the great dead, and especially with Cato. Some- 
times we are told a servant among the Danes slays 
himself on the death of a beloved master, in order 
• to serve him beyond. All nationalities have ex- 
pressed a faith in this idea. Shall we believe that 
all this points to nothing? 

2. But, says one, I do not believe in the resur- 
rection of the body, therefore I can't accept the 
doctrine of future recognition. The resurrection of 
the body is a Bible doctrine, but is physical iden- 
tity the only means of recognition? There are soul 
features as well as bodily features. But suppose 
there are mysteries; it will not do to deny resurrec- 
tion because we do not understand it. What can we 
understand? We would have to deny the reality of 
everything we see, because there are mysteries in 
everything and everywhere around us. 

3. Future recognition will be needed to enable 
us to enjoy heaven to the fullest extent. When do 
you enjoy a dinner most? When do you enjoy 
music most? When do you enjoy painting most? 
Do we not want some one with us with whom to 
exchange glances and. sympathies in order to enjoy? 
Soul communion seems to be necessary in order to our 
fullest enjoyment; consequently we will need our 
friends in heaven to enjoy it to the full. 

4. We will need to recognize each other in the 
other world in order to have an opportunity to pay 
our debts. 

There are a good many debts that dollars and 



FUTURE RECOGNITION NEEDED 269 

cents will not pay, even in this world. We all 
owe more than we think to others, but we will 
never know all we owe, until the judgment day. 
Parents often die and leave their children unsaved ; 
afterwards they are brought to Christ by some 
earnest soul. Poor men and women often die and 
leave their children unprovided for; some kind heart 
feeds and clothes them. Will not the parents want 
to thank them? Have you ever fed a hungry orphan? 
Have you not felt joy in so doing? Imagine the 
joy you will feel when in heaven the father will 
thank you. If there is no future recognition, an 
opportunity will be lacking for one of the sweetest 
joys known to man : that of giving expression to 
gratitude felt for great benefits bestowed. 

5. It will require future recognition to take away 
our embarrassment when we enter heaven. To enter 
heaven might seem, in one respect, to be a cause 
for embarrassment; to feel that we had done so 
little as compared with the great reward bestowed ; a 
sense of self-reproach, a feeling of unworthiness, 
would seem to be natural under the circumstances. 
It seems the righteous feel so, judging from the 
picture given : "When saw we thee hungry and fed 
thee, or naked and clothed thee?" If we should 
feel so, how it would relieve us to hear some one 
say, "You forget that Sunday-school class ; I am 
one of them." "You forget that poor boy that you 
helped ; you forget the sick that you ministered to." 

6. The inquiry is suggested : "If we know our 
friends in heaven, will we not miss some who may 
not be there?" Doubtless this will be true. Doubt- 
less, too, we will be so completely satisfied with 
what God has done that our sense of loss will be 



270 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

swallowed up in our sense of God's goodness and 
mercy. Explain it all I can not, but I know that 
all must be well, and we will doubtless understand 
it all at last and be satisfied. 

Sometimes even here families have reunions. 
They are happy times. How happy father and 
mother look when the children all come. The old 
table groans under its load of good things. What 
songs and stories are indulged in. Soon, however, 
the good-byes must be said, and the eyes are dimmed 
with tears. But what joyful weeping there will be 
when we meet up there to part no more. Imagina- 
tion fails to picture the bliss of such a meeting. No 
wonder it is said, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
neither hath it entered into the heart of man to 
conceive of the things which God hath prepared for 
those w r ho love him." Have we loved ones gone 
before? They are doubtless anxiously waiting for 
us even now, and thrill with expectation every time 
the gate swings open. Perhaps they say, "It is about 
time father or mother or brother or sister or wife or 
husband or child, were coming." "It may be the 
next one that comes in will be the dear one." Have 
you ever stood watching the road for a friend? 
How your heart leaped when the familiar form came 
into view. So, doubtless, our friends in heaven will 
feel when they see us coming. So, doubtless, we will 
feel when those we may leave behind shall join us 
in that deathless land. 

How my heart aches to think some who may 
read this have never started. Will you not start 
for heaven this very day? Will you not make your 
calling and election sure? "Now is the accepted 
time, and to-day is the day of salvation." 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

True Liberty: Its Nature, Its Necessary Con- 
ditions, Its Development and Its Author. 

Text. — John 8 : 32 : "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth 
shall make you free." 

It would be hard to condense more of meaning 
and consequence into a brief statement than is found 
here. Such a sentence is well worthy of its divine 
Author. Here is the germ of the highest political 
wisdom and profoundest statesmanship. It is only 
as the great principles of this passage are grasped 
and applied that true liberty is secured for the indi- 
vidual, the nation or the race. 

I. This passage brings directly to view the value 
of liberty, and shows how it may be secured, and by 
inference it points to the evil of slavery .and to the 
cause producing it. 

1. It needs no argument to convince men of the 
supreme value of freedom. There is no word that 
thrills the soul and fires the heart as much as the 
word "liberty." The very mention of the name 
causes the eye to kindle with enthusiasm. Those 
names that are associated with the great cause of 
liberty will ever be held sacred in the hearts of all 
true men the world over. On the other hand, there 
is no word that begets in the mind such unspeakable 
dread and fills the soul with such dark forebodings 

271 



272 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

of despair as the word "slavery." To be free means 
to move along the line of highest possibilities and 
greatest achievements. To be a slave means to 
travel the road leading downward to ever baser con- 
ditions and ending in the lowest, meanest destiny. 
All noble souls have ever aspired to liberty or strug- 
gled for its achievement. Base, ignoble souls have 
been content to hug the chain that degrades them, 
and sink to the condition of ignominy and shame. 
When Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the 
truth shall make you free," he uttered the emancipa- 
tion proclamation for which the ages had waited and 
in the utterance announced himself as the greatest 
benefactor of the race. 

2. In this language the fact is implied J:hat igno- 
rance is the necessary condition of slavery. "Ye 
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you 
free," therefore without this knowledge they were 
ignorant, and, being ignorant, they were not free; 
but, on the contrary, they were in bondage. This 
is a truth that men have been slow to learn. Physi- 
cal bondage is not the only nor the worst kind of 
slavery. The bondage of mind that the physical 
bondage superinduces or makes possible is the 
slavery most to be dreaded, and this may exist when 
the other is waiting. 

3. This text directly declares that emancipation 
is accomplished by knowledge. "Ye shall know the 
truth, and the truth shall make you free." You can 
not confer freedom in the highest sense by law. Con- 
stitutions of civil and religious liberty can not make 
men truly free. Legal freedom is a necessary step, 
but it is not the end ; true freedom results from 
knowledge. We have not done all that is needed 



IGNORANCE ENSLAVES 273 

when we have stricken the shackles from the hands 
of men. A more radical work is necessary to make 
them free. 

II. The implication of the text that ignorance 
enslaves men is a truth of universal application. It 
holds good in every department of life. 

It is .well to note the specific applications of the 
truth here disclosed: 

1. Religious ignorance enslaves men. Men who 
are ignorant concerning the one true and living God 
are slaves to superstition and gross sensualism. 
Idolatry, with all its hideous manifestations, is the 
result. Wherever the knowledge of God is not found, 
''darkness covers the world and gross darkness the 
people. " Religious people who are ignorant of the 
truths taught by their religious neighbors are slaves 
to the most narrow bigotry and partisan prejudice. 
The only cure for sectarianism is -more knowledge. 
I know of no slavery much more to be dreaded than 
one imposed by this unlovely and un-Christlike thing. 
Such a man is bound by chains that confine him to 
very narrow limits. Sectarianism is a strait-jacket, 
a Chinese shoe. It is slavery of the meanest kind. 
Listen to Christ, "Ye shall know the truth, and the 
truth shall make you free." Here is the cure for 
the slavery of sectarianism, idolatry and all false 
religions that curse the world. 

2. Social ignorance enslaves men. There is a 
certain kind of slavery in every community. Men 
are circumscribed and hemmed in by little social 
rules and artificial barriers that divide the people 
into classes, clans and cliques. All this is slavery. 
It is an abridgment of freedom. It dwarfs the soul 
and paralyzes the noblest powers of man. There is 



274 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

only one cure for all this, and that is knowledge. 
The necessary condition of social freedom is a cor- 
rect understanding of those with whom we mingle. 
We hate men because we do not know them or 
because we misunderstand them. In this Christ's 
words have force. "Ye shall know the truth, and the 
truth shall make you free." 

3. Scientific ignorance enslaves men. A man is a 
slave to superstition and fear who is ignorant of 
physical laws. People who know nothing of as- 
tronomy are frightened by comets and meteoric dis- 
plays. Natural phenomena are regarded as omens of 
dire events by the ignorant. Persons ignorant of 
physiological laws are slaves to superstition and to 
the cunning craftiness of designing men. Thus quacks 
of all kinds practice on the credulity of men. People 
are slaves to lust, appetite, disease, through ignorance 
of physical and physiological laws. Here also the 
language of Christ applies, "Ye shall know the truth, 
and the truth shall make you free." 

4. Political ignorance enslaves men. For the 
first three-quarters of a century millions of black 
people were held in slavery in this country. It is 
interesting to ask what were the conditions that 
made this possible in free America? First of all, it 
was ignorance on the part of the dominant class. 
Some men thought that black men had no souls, that 
they were merely animals; others contended that the 
Bible taught slavery, while still others looked upon 
the black race as a constitutionally dependent race 
and consequently doomed to slavery. This was the 
first condition of bondage. 

Ignorance on the part of the black man was the 
second condition. He could not even read or write, 



IGNORANCE ENSLAVES 275 

and it was a crime in law to teach him to do so. 
Being ignorant, he was scarcely aware of his own 
degradation. To both master and slave the words 
of Christ apply, "Ye shall know the truth, and the 
truth shall make you free." 

There is yet a form of political slavery in this 
country that I feel sure is the result of ignorance, 
Half of our population have no political privileges. 
They can not vote and have no voice in making 
laws. They can not hold office and are taxed without 
representation. What is the reason for this condi- 
tion? Unless I am entirely at fault, it is ignorance: 
ignorance, first of all, concerning the true nature of 
woman. Some fear she will be degraded by entering 
the political arena, that it is contrary to her nature 
to have part in political affairs, and therefore they 
hold that she must be protected by law. It may well 
be observed that the very best protection for woman 
is her own inherent nature. If it is contrary to 
woman's nature to take part in politics that fact will 
keep her from doing so, even if granted the privi- 
lege. This slavery also results from ignorance as 
to the true relations of the sexes. Man, apart from 
woman, is not a complete individual. The same h 
true of woman separated from man. The creation 
of man was not complete until Adam and Eve were 
both formed and married by God. The two consti- 
tute the true unit. The rib story so much ridiculed 
is the most reasonable story in the world. A study 
of each will show that man and woman are counter- 
parts of each other. Man is for policy, woman for 
principle; man is for gain or self-aggrandizement, 
woman for charity; man is for success, woman for 
right; man is restless, woman is for home. These 



276 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

qualities are all right, but they must be blended. 
They are supplementary. What we need in our 
Government to-day are the qualities that woman 
possesses. Men complain of the corruption of poli- 
tics. " Did you ever see anything run solely by men 
that was not corrupt? The school, the army, all 
purely male institutions, have a tendency to coarse- 
ness and corruption. It is a great calamity for a 
man to be cut off from the influence of mother, sister 
and wife. It is a misfortune for men to be isolated 
from women in any capacity. 

III. I also gather from this text that true liberty 
is reached by a gradual process of development. 

Christ said, "Ye shall know the truth," but knowl- 
edge is a growth. It comes by degrees and steps, 
and it comes slowly. Jesus also said, "The kingdom 
of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a 
man took and sowed in his field, which is the least 
of all seeds, but when it is grown it becomes the 
greatest among all herbs." 

All kingdoms of truth are in a sense kingdoms 
of heaven, and they are all like a grain of mustard 
seed. They have vitality. They begin with a very 
small germ and they become great, by a gradual 
process of growth. 

1. This truth is verified in all forms in which 
truth presents itself. You can not kill it. "Truth 
crushed to earth shall rise again." This is true of 
theoretical truth. You can not put down a great 
philosophic truth ; at least, not permanently. It is true 
of concrete truth — truth presented in an invention. 
No really useful invention can be kept out of the 
mill, factory or from the farm. Men have tried it, 
but in vain. It is true of truth concretely presented 



PROGRESS SEEN IN GOVERNMENTS 277 

in a man. You can not permanently overthrow a 
true man. If you put him down, posterity will right 
the wrong. It is also progressive. "First the blade, 
then the ear and then the full corn in the ear." Take 
the fundamental principle of our Government. "All 
men are born free and equal." It was small in the 
beginning, as judged by numbers. It has grown 
much since the battle of Bunker Hill, both in its 
constituency and in its practical application. 

2. This progress is seen in the necessary steps 
in the evolution of government. Man has three 
fundamental wants outside of the purely physical; 
namely, instruction, mediation and rule or govern- 
ment. These are met respectively in prophet, priest 
and king. The king is necessary in order to have 
the peace, order and stability of human society. 
There must necessarily be a king of some kind, or at 
least the function of government must be performed 
in some way. The history given in the Bible shows 
that the first form of government is theocratic. God 
rules first through the patriarch, then through the 
king which doubtless gave rise to the doctrines of 
the divine right of kings. The monarchical form of 
government would be the ideal government if the 
ruler completely represented God ; that is, if he were 
infinite in justice, mercy, wisdom and power. 

The third step in the progression is a republic. 
God rules, not through one man, but through all. 
This is better because all are likely to have more 
wisdom and judgment than the one man may have. 
Here we get a hint of the necessary condition of 
successful republican government. The people must 
have God in them. They must be intelligent, wise, 
righteous, just. Schools and churches are neces- 

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278 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

sary to a free government. No ignorant or vicious 
people are capable of self-government. The ideal 
government will appear when all men are modeled 
after the divine standard. The true patriot must 
necessarily work along Christian lines. Christianity 
is the hope of our country. Christ's Golden Rule was: 
"Do unto others as you would have others do unto 
you." This would solve all the problems that per- 
plex us to-day. YYe will have a good, stable govern- 
ment when in the breast of every man shall reign 
the justice that reigns in the bosom of God; when 
in the character of every man shall exist the purity 
of God; when in the heart of every man shall dwell 
the love that exists in the heart of God. Then the 
voice of the people will be the voice of God. All 
this implies, however, increasing measures of truth. 
It means growth. It means progress ! "Ye shall 
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." 
3. This progress is seen in the history of this 
nation. First in our history as a people came the 
planting and maturing of the seed of liberty. This 
was brought over in the "Mayflower" in 1620. One 
hundred and fifty years were thus spent. They were 
years of growth. It culminated in the Declaration 
of Independence. The war of the Revolution was 
the second step in the majestic progress. This long 
and bloody war was fought for the formal and out- 
ward establishment of the great principle of civil 
liberty. The war of 1812 was fought to determine 
the strength and stability of the great principle. This 
is called the second war of independence. The war 
of 1861 was fought for the practical and universal 
application of the great principle. "All men" had been 
construed to mean all white men. It cost a million 



THE TRUE NATURE OF LIBERTY 279 

of lives and two billions of dollars to settle the ques- 
tion that "all men" meant "all men" and not "some 
men." Behind this lies a great truth that Jesus Christ 
gave the world; namely, that the individual man is 
the unit of value. 

It has been a question from the beginning as to 
what constitutes true greatness. Various standards 
have been set up. Wealth, wisdom and power have 
been the usual standards. These ideas made the 
world into which Christ came. It was a cruel, heart- 
less world as a consequence. Christ gave the world 
the true idea. He taught that manhood constitutes 
greatness. Man is great because he is a man. This 
idea has filled the world with eleemosynary institu- 
tions. This idea has written Magna Chartas and 
constitutions of liberty. ' Jesus Christ is the author 
of liberty by virtue of his doctrine of the greatness 
of man. 

4. The nature of true liberty indicates progress. 
There are two ways to govern men : One is by out- 
ward restriction, and one is by inward principle. 
Men may be governed by law and penalties, or by 
the development of principles in the heart. Both 
methods are necessary, and each is applicable under 
certain conditions and certain states. Outward restraint 
must come first. It is adapted to man in his primi- 
tive or undeveloped state. Primitive peoples must 
be governed by law. Children must be under law. 
Before, however, true liberty is reached, inward prin- 
ciple must become the governing power. The law 
must be written on the heart. As long as law is 
external, man is a slave. 

God's dififerent dispensations give us a!n illustra- 
tion of this truth. Judaism was a system of law or 



280 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

outward restraint. It was a bondage. Paul calls it a 
yoke. Christianity is a system of inward principles. 
The law is written on the fleshy tables of the heart. 

Here we find an intimation as to the duty we owe 
to the freed man. It was a great thing to strike the 
shackles from the slave, but it was not enough. He 
needs inward principles of righteousness and self- 
restraint. Until outward law is reduced to inward 
principles he is not free. 

The great dominant principle out of which true 
liberty comes is love of God. "Ye shall know the 
truth, and the truth shall make you free." Christ 
came to give this knowledge to us. He said, "I am 
the truth." Before Christ came, God was Jehovah. 
After Christ came, God was Father. The love of 
God was manifest in Jesus. "God so loved the 
world, that he gave his only begotten Son." Jesus 
was "God manifest in the flesh." The design of all 
this is to reveal God in aspects to win our love. 
"We love God because he first loved us." Jesus in 
revealing God's love, sows in our heart the seed 
from which springs our love of God. This is the 
foundation of our love to man. He who loves God 
best loves man best, and this is the soil in which 
flourishes the true love of liberty. How wonderful 
and far-reaching the truth! "Ye shall know the 
truth, and the truth shall make you free." 



CHAPTER XXV. 
The Emancipation Proclamation.* 

Text. — John 8:36: "If the Son therefore shall make you 
free, ye shall be free indeed." 

1. There are certain words that of necessity 
imply an opposite. Darkness implies light ; purity, 
impurity; exaltation, debasement; salvation, damna- 
tion ; freedom, slavery. Often we fail to understand 
a thing by not understanding its opposite. We may 
not appreciate sight because we have never been 
blind; or food, because we have never been hungry; 
or health, because we have never been sick. So we 
may not appreciate the wonderful significance of 
such language as this, because we do not know what 
slavery means. 

2. Jesus told the Jews that "the truth shall make 
you free." This was to open their eyes to the true 
nature of the kingdom — to show its spiritual char- 
acter. They felt the galling yoke of political slavery, 
and were looking for emancipation. Christ tells 
them of another kind of emancipation. When Christ 
said, "The truth shall make you free," they replied, 
"Seed of Abraham are we, and have never been in 
bondage." Very small were their views of things, 
and yet the same is true to-day. Many are in 

*Some of the thoughts in this chapter have been gathered 
from sources I do not recall ; possibly to a sermon of F. W. 
Robertson as much as to any other source. 

281 



282 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

bondage who are not aware of their abject con- 
dition. Jesus teaches a new doctrine. He says who- 
soever is committing sin is the servant of sin. "If, 
therefore, the Son shall make you free, you shall be 
free indeed/' We think that unless we hear the 
iron chains clank there is no slavery. Our nation 
is full of slaves ; our city is full of bondsmen. In 
every house are slaves. Do you say it is awful to 
be a slave? Better be a literal slave and feel the 
galling chains than to be a slave to sin. There is no 
slavery so terrible as this. 

I. Let us study what is involved in the slavery 
this language discloses. 

1. The first phase of slavery is seen in the loss 
of a free man's rights. There are more benefits 
enjoyed by those born free than can be specified by 
word or charter. There is absence of a sense of 
limit, restraint, superspection, which in itself is a 
great blessing. The free mingling with the free, 
with men of lofty aim, an open field to enter the 
generous contests of life, to prepare one's self to 
stand where the loftiest stand — all this is denied 
to a slave. Yet this is the position occupied by the 
slave of sin. Fateful words, "Aliens from the com- 
monwealth of Israel." The privilege of saying, "I 
am a Roman citizen," was an enormous privilege. 
Paul was glad on one occasion to say it. A citizen 
of Christ's kingdom enjoys wonderful prerogatives, 
among which is liberty in its truest sense. Those 
hot Christians may say, "I would not be as those 
Christians, so tied up, so hindered, so restricted." 
A Roman slave might have said, "I would not wear 
those robes, that badge, those insignia of office that 
the citizen wears. I would rather have the free 



PHASES OF SLAVERY 283 

life of the servant." In one sense, the slave is freer 
than the master. But do you want this? Which 
kind of freedom is preferred? Freedom from lofty 
things or from debasing conditions? In this life 
there is no greater privilege than the equal free 
mingling of pure, exalted spirits, who enjoy equal 
rights and privileges. The "commonwealth of Israel" 
is made up of those who receive their patent of 
nobility from God. To be without Christ is to be ex- 
cluded from the commonwealth of immortal princes — 
their thoughts, employments and enjoyments. No 
true pleasure does Christianity destroy, no real liberty 
does it abridge. It is necessary to repeat this again 
and again. 

2. Another phase of slavery is this: The slave 
has no choice of employment. He goes when, and 
where, and to do what, the master says. He must 
obey. Perhaps some one is saying, "How your 
analogy will not hold good." Yes, it will hold good 
in every phase of the subject. Sin is an awful 
tyrant. Free from the duties of the Christian, the 
sinner is bound to the drudgeries of sin. Sin comes 
alluringly, offering to bring the individual pleasures 
and delights, but by degrees it binds its victim, hand 
and foot, and holds him a slave. Take any sinful 
indulgence as an example. Intemperance is an 
awful slavery. Go to the drunkard and plead in the 
name of wife, children, friends. He will say, I can 
not break the chain that binds me. All who seek 
vice as a servant to their enjoyment sell themselves 
to a cruel tyrant. Sin as a master has no heart of 
pity; he sheds no tears; your anguish and remorse 
will not touch him. When you would go about 
other and higher employment, you can not do so. 



284 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

3. Further notice, that the slave has no ac- 
cumulation of property. He is himself property. 
All he gathers goes to another except by favor. 
There are some beautiful things in human slavery. 
The slave true to his master, and vice versa. Not 
so in this slavery. Sin is inhuman. He gives to his 
victim merely to quiet him. No slave of sin ac- 
cumulates property. Property for the body is that 
which will give it some sustenance, comfort or adorn- 
ment. What will sustain the soul? Truth, friend- 
ship of highest spirits, whatever the soul can enjoy 
when it passes out of the body. If a man has spent 
his whole life in sin, what will he have in eternity? 
No purity, no spiritual power, no love of truth, no 
enduring riches. He dies as a slave dies and has 
nothing. Jesus said, "Lay not up treasures on earth, 
where moth and rust doth corrupt." What folly to 
spend life to accumulate simply for the body. The 
soul is to live forever. Shall not some provision be 
made for eternal needs? 

4. Another phase of slavery is this : The slave 
has no power to rise. In human slavery, no matter 
how noble in soul, how great in faith, in charity, in 
truthfulness, in courage, the slave can not rise. He 
can hold no office. He was born a slave and dies a 
slave. There is an insurmountable barrier between 
him and all upward paths. The poor free child with 
no greater powers, physical, intellectual or moral, may 
grow and ascend. The. slave, while a slave, never 
rises. He need not aspire. It is just so with the 
slave of sin. Whatever his power may be, he can 
not rise truly till his fetters are broken. Now and 
then there may come over him a sickening sense of 
his ponderous incapacity. He can see heights above 



CURSES OF SLAVERY 285 

he can not scale. Worse still, the slave may become 
apathetic. He may lose his desire to rise. He may 
lose courage, hope, aspiration. He may become a 
slavish slave and hug his chain. So may the sinner 
become. It is an awful state. Better waste your 
strength in fruitless effort than to become careless 
and indifferent. Better try and fail than not to try 
at all. Better struggle and be overcome than to be 
vanquished without an effort. If my lot at last 
should be cast with those who are banished from 
God, it seems to me my misery would be somewhat 
assuaged by the thought that at least I had made a 
heroic effort to break the chains of sin. 

5. In the case of abject slavery the slave is 
liable to be sent away at any time. He can not 
refuse to go. If the master should become inhuman 
and hate the slave, or conditions make it necessary, 
he may be sent away. Resistance would be utterly 
useless. He is powerless. Such is the case with 
the slave of sin. Sin is always inhuman. It hates 
its vassals. The bondage of the soul to evil passions 
and appetites is a perpetual gravitation away from 
the home of the soul. This is the last and direst 
of the evils of this slavery; banishment "from the 
presence of the Lord and the glory of his power/' 
God does not willfully banish ; he loves, draws, longs 
for, but sin banishes. What idea so dreadful. A per- 
petual going away from light, warmth, purity, music, 
peace, joy, love, freedom — awful thought. How long 
will this last? Forever; down, down to the bottomless 
pit. Chains of darkness. Everlasting slaves. No 
year of jubilee ; no emancipation ; no freedom. Men 
hear chains clank now till the blood curdles, but do 
not have strength to break them. You are a strong 



286 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

man; maybe you can pile up a fortune, lead an 
army, govern an empire. Try to break away from 
one evil habit and see how weak you are. James II. 
on his deathbed said, "There is no slavery like sin, 
no liberty like God's service." Was not that de- 
throned king right? What think you of chains of 
indulged lusts? The drunkard, the sensualist can 
not resist. Know you more abject slaves? 

II. This prepares us to meet the one great ques- 
tion, "Can man be delivered from this awful bond- 
age?" 

1. This is the question that has perplexed men 
from the beginning. Man's best intellectual en- 
deavors have been expended in discovering systems 
of emancipation. The general result has been to 
add outward restraint to inward bondage. Educa- 
tion has failed. It only increases the capacity of 
the slave to serve his master. Civilization has 
failed, legal enactment has failed, but God in his 
mercy has provided a way of escape. 

2. We get the true answer in Jesus Christ, who 
is the world's only great and real liberator. How 
does he do it? First, by creating a sense of personal 
responsibility. No one ever saw so much in a man 
as Jesus saw. He never looked upon any one not 
worth saving. Jesus makes every one feel that God 
loves him. "God so loved the world that he gave 
his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on 
him might not perish." "Whosoever" is distributive. 
"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to 
every creature." Every man is treated as an in- 
dividual unit. Each must think and act for himself. 

Christ's next object is to give light. "Go teach 
all nations." We need instruction. By reason of sin 



WHAT CHRIST DOES 287 

we see all things distorted. The great appears small 
and vice versa. Christ shows us our relations to God, 
and God's attitude to man. He also breaks the 
fascination of sin. Sin is soporific. Christ comes to 
awaken us out of guilty sleep. "Awake thou that 
sleepest and arise from the dead," is the admonition 
of the apostle. God seeks to turn our eyes from the 
fascination of sin to objects more lovely. The central 
object is a lover sacrificing himself for the object 
of love. 

Christ's next object is to establish a bond ol 
union between man and God. Sin has destroyed the 
law of gravity in the moral world. Christ re-estab- 
lishes the law by making God's will supreme. This 
is what Paul means by "glorious liberty of the 
children of God." It is liberty from chaos, from 
anarchy, from destruction. 

Christ gives us a title deed to an inheritance. 
We become property holders. Our right to inherit- 
ance has been forfeited. Christ gives us a new 
claim. He declares, "In my Father's house are many 
mansions ; I go to prepare a place for you." 

This is what Christ means by making us free 
indeed. No man is free until Christ makes him so. 
All these glorious effects flow from breaking the 
chains of sin. We are freed from sin in the heart, 
sin in the life, and from the results of sin. We 
secure pardon, new relationships and a new home of 
blessedness. 

Here is an emancipation proclamation good for 
any country or time. Here is freedom in comparison 
with which there is no other. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Grounds of Confidence for the Triumph 
of Truth.* 

John 17:20-21: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for 
them also which shall believe on me through their word; that 
they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, 
that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that 
thou hast sent me." 

1. No occasion or opportunity can be utilized 
for the highest possible ends that is not magnified 
in the minds of all to whom it comes. 

The young man or woman just entering upon 
school life must magnify the opportunity to accom- 
plish most. If it is looked upon as great, the results 
will be correspondingly great. 

The man elected to office must magnify his office 
in order to serve his constituency best and dignify 
his office. 

The man accepting any work must feel that it is 
great, in order to do it in a great way, and it does 
not matter much what honest work a man may 
undertake, if he does it exceedingly well, it will be 
great. 

2. This same principle holds good when applied 

* In this chapter I present thoughts very simihr to some in ? 
chapter headed "The Distinctive Plea of the Disciples of Christ/' 
found in my book entitled "The Great Salvation," but the 
thoughts are somewhat differently expressed and used for a 
different purpose in this conrection, and, as it seems to me, have 
a logical place in this volume. 
288 



HOW TO USE AN OCCASION 289 

to any occasion that may come to us as individuals, 
or as organized bodies. If we regard it as small, 
unimportant, a mere pastime, a chance for recreation 
or amusement, it means but little; that which looks 
small is small, so far as practical results are con- 
cerned. If, however, we look upon our opportunity 
as a great occasion, if we really magnify it in our 
minds, it were impossible to overestimate its power 
for good. It may not be amiss to mention a few- 
things that would be of immense benefit to every 
Christian worker. He needs to have the bond of 
sympathy strengthened between himself and every 
co-laborer in the vineyard. To stand as an isolated 
unit is to be unnecessarily weak. He needs to have 
an enlarged conception of the work that God has 
committed to him. No man can be great that takes 
small views of things. He needs to draw on the 
common fund of wisdom and experience that all 
together possess ; thus the wealth of one becomes 
the possession of all. He needs to have his confi- 
dence in the final success of the work God has com- 
mitted to his hands strengthened. The importance 
of this is very great. No man who expects failure 
is very likely to succeed. A discouraged people are 
never a strong people, no matter what they may be 
in other respects. 

Believing I can use a little space to no better 
advantage, I will recount some of the reasons for 
believing in the ultimate triumph of the great prin- 
ciples of Protestantism. 

I. The first reason is found in the invincible 
power and conquering force of truth. 

1. It may rightfully be said that there is nothing 
so powerful as ideas, and especially ideas of a cer- 



290 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

tain kind. Carlos Martyn says, "Charge ideas with 
the dynamite of righteousness and conscience, and 
they will blow every form of opposition to pieces." 
All truth, no matter to what realm it belongs, is 
powerful ; nay, perhaps I may safely say, invincible, 
but some forms of truth seem to manifest their 
power with peculiar vigor and strength. 

Truth that bears directly upon human condition; 
truth that pertains to human rights or that affects 
man's moral and religious nature; truth that appeals 
to the human heart and human conscience — can never 
be permanently put down. Such truth seems to be 
charged with the very immortality and power of 
God. Wendell Phillips said, referring primarily to 
political truth, "The man that launches a sound 
argument, who sets on two feet a startling fact and 
bids it travel -across the continent, is just as certain 
that in the end he will change the government as 
if to destroy the capitol he has placed gunpowder 
under the Senate chamber." What is true of polit- 
ical truth is equally true of religious truth. No truth 
is more important to men than religious truth, and 
none has shown so great power to stir the human 
soul. 

When even one earnest man seriously gives him- 
self to the consideration of a great moral question, 
no one can predict the consequences that may result. 
When Savonarola pondered upon the corruption, in- 
justice and wrong going on around him, deeply, 
religiously in earnest, ideas that were to arrest a 
world's attention and change the current of a world's 
history were being born. Luther, in his monk's cell, 
buried in thoughtful meditation, was storing up the 
moral dynamite that was to shake the Roman hier- 



PROGRESS OF TRUTH SLOW 291 

archy to its center and shatter its very foundations. 
Wesley, at Oxford, giving himself to prayerful re- 
flection and the earnest study of God's Word, was 
generating the forces of a mighty moral and relig- 
ious upheaval. Alexander Campbell, in his solitary 
study, built under the trees hard by his quiet country 
home, absorbed in profound religious thought, was 
setting in motion the forces of a mighty religious 
revolution. Had it not been for those silent mid- 
night vigils, one of the greatest religious movements 
of all the centuries would doubtless have died at 
its birth. The world has not been able to cast away 
the thoughts of Savonarola or Luther or Wesley, nor 
will it be able to put aside the thoughts of the Camp- 
bells, because these God-sent men gave to the world 
what the world needed, and at the psychological 
moment. 

2. It is, however, true that great truth has often 
been slow to make its way among men. Strange to 
say, even the greatest truth has seemed to walk with 
tardy step. Error has sometimes appeared to run 
with swifter feet. On this account, many grow dis- 
couraged and say, "Surely truth will bear its own 
credentials ; surely truth that only seeks to bless, 
will not be opposed," and because there is opposition 
and slow progress, they are almost ready to dis- 
trust the truth. Still, it remains true that no matter 
how long truth may have been delayed, no matter 
how long its triumph may have been deferred, in 
the end victory has been sure. No opposition has 
ever permanently succeeded, and I have no fears 
that the enemies of truth will ever permanently 
gain the victory. The issue is never doubtful ; God 
Almighty is pledged to its success. 



292 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

3. There is, however, a great danger to which 
we do well to give heed. It is God's purpose to 
propagate truth through human agency. That God 
does so is proof enough of its wisdom, whether we 
can understand it or not, and the history of all re- 
forms shows us that truth has suffered more from 
the hands of its friends than from its enemies. Un- 
wise advocacy is worse than opposition of opponents. 
It is, therefore, true, that while man can not kill the 
truth, man can retard it. Paul felt this when he 
said, "I suffer all things lest I should hinder the 
gospel of Christ." 

We need not fear as to the ultimate outcome, but 
we may well feel alarmed as to our own responsi- 
bility in the matter. God has called us into a won- 
derful partnership, and our failure may retard the 
truth and lose for us the great reward. But if we 
fail? Only this, God will find a more worthy instru- 
ment, and in the end truth will come into its 
kingdom. 

II. The second reason for confidence is the in- 
trinsic greatness of the various Protestant pleas. 

1. Every great truth, whether political or relig- 
ious, has, in the providence of God, been com- 
mitted to the guardianship of a particular people. 
Races and nations and great religious bodies have 
been commissioned by God to hold up some great 
truth. Each has had some truth to work out and 
hand forward, not for itself, but as a contribution 
to the common inheritance of the race. The 
philosopher in the realm of history finds no trouble 
in discovering the great dominant thoughts of races 
and nations that serve to explain the character of 



THE JEWS' IDEA 293 

the people, and without which history is an unsolv- 
able enigma. 

To the Jew was committed the idea of one true 
and living God. This idea has been the contribution 
of the Jew to the common fund. This idea made the 
Jews a religious nation ; it made them, indeed, a 
peculiar people, working out the divine plan in pre- 
paring the world for the accomplishment of God's 
gracious purpose respecting the race. To the Greek 
was given the idea of wisdom or perfection. Paul 
discovered this; he declared the Greeks seek after 
wisdom. This serves to explain the nation. This 
accounts for the fact that the Greeks have given us 
the most wonderful philosophy, art and language the 
world has ever seen. After the lapse of more than 
two thousand years, we go back and sit at the feet 
of Greek philosophers and make her art our models. 
To Rome was given the idea of power as expressed 
in civil law. With her power was the highest good. 
Her poet sang, "It is yours, O Rome, to give laws 
to the nations, to protect the weak and humble the 
proud." To the Anglo-Saxon God committed the idea 
of liberty. It is the people of Anglo-Saxon blood that 
have written the constitutions of civil and religious 
liberty, and have given largest freedom to men. All 
have served a great purpose ; all have contributed to 
give the race its larger inheritance. Incidentally God 
has taught the impotency of law, either divine or 
human ; the inability of wisdom or culture, and the 
powerlessness of even civil liberty to save the race, 
and thus in a negative way prenare the world for 
salvation by grace through the God-man who came 
to seek and save the lost. 

2. This great truth finds illustration in the his- 

(20) 



294 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

tory of Protestantism. Every great Protestant peo- 
ple has been the conservator of some great truth. 
Each has had a conspicuous, dominant idea that has 
come in large measure to characterize the body. 
Each has had in keeping some truth to magnify 
and hand forward that in the fullness of time it 
might become the inheritance of all. No one has 
had all the truth, but each has received the truth 
that those who went before had in keeping and to 
it has added its own peculiar treasure. 

Sometimes this truth has been taken out of its 
relation to other truth, and sometimes it has been 
in some degree perverted, but, after all, each has 
held some peculiar truth with more or less of justice 
and clearness. 

To Luther it was given to grasp the idea of the 
Bible as the book of the people, which was the great 
doctrine of Protestantism, and to add his own 
peculiar message: the doctrine of justification by 
faith as opposed to justification by works of penance, 
which was advocated by the hierarchy of Rome. 
Here it may be well to notice that Luther, like all 
great reformers, came in the fullness of time. God's 
men are always on time ; they come with their great 
truth just when they are needed most and when 
conditions are ripe for their appearance. 

To Calvin was committed the idea of the divine 
sovereignty — a great truth, a necessary truth, when 
set in proper relation to other truth, and it was 
needed at that particular moment when the divine 
prerogatives were being usurped by one who, as 
foretold by the sacred writer, sat in the temple of 
God, assuming to be God, or to exercise his func- 
tions. 



OTHER GREAT IDEAS 295 

To James Arminius was given the doctrine of the 
freedom of the human will, as set over against the 
extreme doctrine of Calvinism, that denied all human 
power and consequent responsibility by failing to 
consider that a sovereign God had seen fit to make a 
free man. 

To Wesley it was given to emphasize the spir- 
itual side of Christianity, coupled with the idea of 
the freedom of the human will. It stands as a pro- 
test against extreme formalism and extreme Cal- 
vinism. In other words, to Wesley it was given to 
set in proper relation the doctrines of Calvin and 
Arminius, and to add the doctrine of spiritual re- 
ligion as opposed to the idea that religion was a 
matter of form and ceremony, posture of body, cut 
of clothes and observance of days and seasons. 

To Alexander Campbell and his contemporaries 
was given the divine idea of the union of all Chris- 
tians on the basis of simple apostolic Christianity. 
The famous Declaration and Address of 1809, by 
Thomas Campbell, was an arraignment of sectism 
and a call to union. It involved the gathering to- 
gether of the truths of all, and setting them in their 
true relations to each other. It was both a plea 
and a method. The plea was union, and the method 
a return to the Christianity of the apostolic day, in 
doctrine, ordinances and life. It began with Christ's 
intercessory prayer for his disciples that they all may 
be one, "that the world may believe. " It said by 
going back to. Christ and his apostles, nothing can 
be lost. It declared that if Luther, Calvin, Arminius 
and Wesley taught great truths they got it from 
Christ and his apostles ; that they merely taught 
what God had given them to see, that had been 



296 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

dropped out of sight. Hence, a return to apostolic 
Christianity was safe, and thus all later corruptions 
would be avoided. 

3. The history of Protestantism has, in a gen- 
eral way, been the history of a great development. 
From the time when the first grey streaks of dawn 
broke upon the darkness in which the Roman apos- 
tasy had plunged the world, the light has been 
growing brighter, and let us hope that it will con- 
tinue to increase until the full noontide glory of the 
perfect day appears. Each reformer has taken a 
forward step. Each was able to make some advance 
because of those who went before. Each, standing 
on the shoulder of those who preceded him, was able 
to take in a larger horizon and to see with a more 
unobstructed vision. 

Happy had it been if the Protestant world had 
been able to recognize these movements as steps in 
a great progression, rather than as ultimate ends 
beyond which no farther progress was possible. In 
this failure is found an explanation for many of the 
mistakes and follies that have resulted in the unfor- 
tunate contentions of Protestantism and the conse- 
quent divisions of the Christian world. 

4. This plea of the Campbells is one of mag- 
nificent proportions. No people ever crystallized 
around a greater or more important idea. No man 
who grasps this plea in all its fullness, need ever 
hang his head in shame. Great >as was the truth for 
which Luther and other great reformers have stood, 
God has never honored any people with a grander 
mission than the one to which this people have been 
called, because it means the gathering up into one 



INTRINSIC GREATNESS OF DISCIPLES' PLEA 2^7 

united whole, all truth for which the great reformers 
have contended. 

Several things unite to give dignity and impor- 
tance to this plea, which, if apprehended, would con- 
stitute a long step in religious progress: 

(1) First of all comes the intrinsic greatness 
and merit of the plea itself. The abolition of sectism 
and the union of all Christians in outward and spir- 
itual union, is a conception that seems to be in 
most perfect accord with the mind of Christ. Four 
great characters contributed directly to the working 
out of the essential features of the plea. First in 
order stands Thomas Campbell, who laid hold of 
the great idea of the union of the people of God, 
as a matter fundamental to the extension of the 
kingdom of God and the conquest of the world for 
Christ. With him, Christian union was a burning 
passion. He clearly saw that union was the matter 
that needed emphasis just then, in order to success- 
fully carry out the commission of our Lord. The 
great Declaration and Address of 1809 was an ar- 
raignment of sectism, and a powerful plea for union 
by a return to apostolic preaching and practice. 
Next in order, and contemporaneous with him, stands 
Alexander Campbell, his illustrious son. Grasping 
the great fundamental plea as clearly as his father; 
he laid particular stress on the Lordship of Jesus, 
clearly seeing that divisions had arisen by exalting 
human authority above the authority of the great 
head of the church, thus virtually annulling the great 
fundamental principle of Protestantism. Along with 
these two appeared Walter Scott, to whom it was 
given to apprehend with great clearness the simple, 
logical and Scriptural law of pardon, as laid down 



29* . THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

by the apostles as they went out under the great 
commission, and which had been displaced by human 
theories concerning the nature of man and the nature 
and character of God, resulting in confusion con- 
founded in the teaching and practice of the religious 
world concerning the vital question of pardon and 
acceptance with God. Fundamental to these un- 
scriptural theories and practices lay the doctrine of 
total depravity, and the idea that God must be recon- 
ciled to man instead of the Scriptural idea that man 
needed reconciliation with God. Finally, Barton W. 
Stone, of Kentucky, took his stand with the Camp- 
bells, emphasizing in a powerful way the thought 
that the Bible is the only rule of faith and practice, 
thus displacing all creeds and confessions of faith 
as authoritative statements of doctrine. Along with 
all went a clear distinction between the old and new 
covenants, showing where the former ended and the 
latter began, thus placing the New Testament in 
its true relation to the old. 

(2) In the next place, the plea is great because 
of that which takes its roots in this. The question 
of name, creed, ordinances, all of which have come 
to be looked upon as cardinal points in the plea, are 
really but subordinate items growing out of the great 
central idea. Party names were eschewed, not be- 
cause of any hatred for the men or principles that 
suggested them, but because names of themselves are 
divisive and the plea was a call for union. Creeds 
were set aside, not because they did not contain 
truth, but because they produced division by exalting 
human deductions and theories above the sacred 
Scriptures of the New Testament, and making these 
human systems authoritative. Ordinances were em- 



WHY THE DISCIPLES' PLEA IS GREAT 29& 

phasized because church authority had substituted 
human expedients for the plain, simple requirements 
of Christ and his apostles. The baptism of the New 
Testament had been set aside by many for the 
affusion that came into practice by way of Rome, 
and the weekly observance of the Lord's Supper had 
been displaced by a more infrequent celebration of 
that most sacred and important ordinance. By a 
return to apostolic Christianity it was seen that the 
things that divide would be eliminated, hence the 
cry went up, "Back of Oxford, back of Geneva, back 
of Wittenberg, back of Rome, back of the Nicene 
Council, back to Christ and his apostles." 

(3) Also this plea is great because of its his- 
toric position as a religious movement. It is the 
climax of all reformations— -a sort of keystone in the 
arch. It is the logical result to which all previous 
reformations have led. It is the gathering up of 
all preceding reformations and binding them into a 
related whole. Such a movement could only come 
when it did; certainly it could not have come 
earlier. The time was ripe for it, as is indeed true 
of all reformations. In this movement the cardinal 
doctrine of Protestantism finds practical exemplifi- 
cation. 

(4) This plea is great because of that which 
depends upon it. The conquest of this world for 
Christ depends^ on its success. The Saviour's com- 
mission can never be successfully carried out in all 
its divine fullness by a divided church. The vic- 
tories of the cross to-day are in proportion to the 
unity displayed by the followers of Christ. 

; III. I believe in the final triumph of every true 



300 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

plea, because I believe in the righteousness of the 
final verdict of the people. 

1. In studying the lives of great reformers, both 
political and religious, I have been impressed wiLh 
the fact that they all believed in the fundamental 
honesty of humanity — they believed in men. Faith 
in the people has characterized all great moral 
leaders, and results have ever shown that this confi- 
dence was well founded. Let us, however, be careful 
lest we be led to expect too much here. This does 
not mean that the majority at any given time is 
right. It does not mean that the judgment of one 

•million or fifty millions, is right, but it does mean 
that the decision of the people, when once informed, 
when lifted above the narrow prejudice and ignorance 
that curses them, will be right. The people mean 
right, and in the end will do right. 

Wendell Phillips, in substance, said, "If you have 
a great truth do not fear to launch it upon the great 
ocean of humanity; it will be sure to find a safe 
harbor/' This is a most cheering truth, and it ought 
to inspire great confidence in the final triumph of 
right. 

"Truth crushed to earth will rise again, 

The eternal years of God are hers; 
But Error, wounded, writhes in pain 

And dies amidst its worshippers." 

2. This fact is shown for the reason that all 
forms of evil instinctively dread the intelligent ver- 
dict of the people. Evil-doers seem to have an 
innate consciousness that the people, when informed, 
will take the side of the right. The policy of all 
wrong-doers, despots, tyrants, the liquor dealers in 



FINAL VERDICT OF THE PEOPLE 301 

our own land to-day, is to hide the truth, keep the 
facts from the people. Prejudice, superstition, rever- 
ence for old effete customs, blind adherence to great 
names, all are used, in the cause of error, to keep the 
people from seeing the truth. Every evil thing that 
flourishes in our country is intrenched behind popular 
ignorance and prejudice, which is only another form 
of ignorance. 

Error can not stand the light, while truth craves 
the light. Error dies in the light and flourishes in 
darkness, while truth pines in the darkness, and 
flourishes in the light. Why is this true? Simply 
because the hearts of the people are in sympathy 
with the right. There is in man a latent sympathy 
with virtue and truth. But here is the unfortunate 
thing: Prejudice and superstition so blind men that 
they are sometimes slow in seeing the light. This 
calls for patience on the part of the advocates of 
truth, but they may be ever consoled with the idea 
that when once the truth is seen, the victory is won. 

So sure as I believe in the righteousness of the 
final verdict of the people, so sure I believe this 
verdict will eventually be in favor of every righteous 
plea. It is only a question of time, and possibly a 
shorter time than the most sanguine may expect, for 
many great reforms. 

IV. I believe in the final success of the plea for 
Christian union in particular, because I believe in 
the innate sympathy of the Christian heart for that 
Christlike idea. 

Theoretically, men may, and some do, oppose the 
doctrine of Christian union. I have heard candid, 
earnest, Christian men compare the divided church 
to an army composed of infantry, cavalry and ar- 



302 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

tillery, the inference, of course, being that divisions 
are useful. 

I have heard men argue that divisions are neces- 
sary in order to secure freedom from religious error 
and erroneous practice. Still, I have discovered that 
down in the heart there is a native sympathy for 
the union idea. 

1. This sympathy is shown in the history and 
success of the Y. M. C. A. movement. It is the 
unsectarian character of this organization that gives 
it power. In so far as it succeeds in ignoring the 
things that divide, in so far it has power, and in this 
ratio it meets with success. 

2. This is shown by the popularity of the Inter- 
national Sunday-school Lessons. They are no better, 
intrinsically, than some other series that have been 
proposed; nay, they are open to serious objection, as 
has frequently been pointed out. Still, they are by 
far the most popular lessons that have ever been 
tried, and nothing can make any headway in dis- 
placing them. Why this? Simply because of the 
unsectarian idea connected with them. It is an in- 
spiration to know that Christian people and the chil- 
dren of Christian people, throughout the world, are 
studying on the same day, at the same hour, the 
same Scripture lesson. It is a sort of recognition o£ 
the common Christianity that underlies all sectarian 
divisions and binds the people of God together. 

3. This is shown in the marvelous success of the 
Christian Endeavor movement. I look upon this 
movement as one of the most potent agencies for 
good that has ever arisen within the churches.. 
Through its instrumentality a mighty army is being 
trained for efficient service. Through it the church: 



INNATE SYMPATHY OF CHRISTIANS 303 

is getting its grip on the young as it has never done 
before. One of the great secrets of the success of 
the movement is its unsectarian character. While 
the innate sympathy that anything unsectarian calls 
forth is the great secret of success here, yet it is 
also true that nothing is contributing more to 
strengthen this sympathy than this movement. When 
the young people of a community are drawn together, 
as they are through these societies, it will be very 
hard to keep them divided by sectarian fences. 

4. This is shown by the tendencies toward union 
that are seen in the foreign mission fields. Sectarian- 
ism does not seem to bear exportation well. It re- 
quires the utmost effort to keep the denominational 
lines intact on foreign soil. A united church of 
Christ in Japan is a most impressive evidence of the 
sympathy the unbiased heart has for Christian union. 

Disciples, of all others, should welcome all this 
tendency toward union and lend encouragement in 
every possible way to all these agencies. 

V. I believe in the final success of this plea for 
union because of the success already achieved. 

1. Let us note, briefly, some of the indirect re- 
sults of a plea for a united Christendom. Fifty years 
ago sectarianism was rampant and the plea for union 
was ridiculed. To-day much of the bitterness and 
hatefulness of sectarianism is gone, and Christian 
union has become a popular theme in pulpit and in 
press. The drift toward union is unmistakable, so 
much so that a blind man can scarcely fail to see it. 
Many things that were once considered character- 
istic of the advocates of Christian union, have ceased 
to be so, because they have been adopted by nearly 
all religious people. It would be a strange thing 



304 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

to-day to hear any one call the Bible a dead letter 
and as worthless as last year's almanac, yet that was 
not uncommon not many years ago. A man who 
spoke out against creeds fifty years ago was voted a 
heretic, yet now it is common to hear men boast 
that they have never read the creed of their church. 
To profess ignorance of the creed is paraded as a 
virtue. 

In many union meetings people are received on a 
simple confession of faith, as was the practice in 
apostolic days, and contrary to the almost universal 
practice not long since. Infant church membership 
is fast losing its hold on the people, and will soon 
be a thing of the past, and more Scriptural views of 
baptism are coming gradually to prevail. 

2. The direct results are even more encouraging. 
Nearly a million and a half of people have been gath- 
ered together on the broad Christian platform that 
makes Christ the only creed and the Scriptures the 
only rule of faith and practice, on which the dis- 
ciples stand. A people who have discarded, theoreti- 
cally at least, all sectarianism; who plead for nothing 
as essential that is not essential to Christianity itself; 
who lay no obligations upon men, other than those 
imposed by Christ and his apostles ; a people who 
have cast aside all creeds and tests of fellowship 
other than the Word of God, thus practically exem- 
plifying the cardinal doctrine of Protestantism ; a 
people who recognize a common Christianity as in- 
dependent of sectarian tenets and who in their or- 
ganized capacity stand for the great idea of the out- 
ward and spiritual union of all the people of God. 
This does not mean that no others favor union, but 
it does mean that this people constitute the only 



INSPIRING FACTS 305 

organized protest against division. Every congrega- 
tion of these people ought to be an object-lesson on 
Christian union, and unless this is the case, it is 
true neither to its principles nor to its mission. 

It means something for such a people to have 
forty colleges of larger or smaller dimensions, beside 
academies and orphan schools. Many of these have 
more or less endowment, and are manned by a well- 
trained, consecrated, self-sacrificing company of 
teachers. 

It means something to have a Foreign Missionary 
Society with a large force of missionaries in its 
employ, and with mission stations in Turkey, India, 
Japan, China, Africa, and other places, and with con- 
verts already numbered by thousands. It means 
something to have an efficient Home Society that 
is doing a large and growing work within the borders 
of the United States, planting new churches in many 
of our cities and throughout our great western em- 
pire that is so rapidly developing. 

It means something to have a Christian Woman's 
Board of Missions with its hundreds of auxiliaries 
raising large sums for missions and education, and 
assisting in a most efficient way, both in our home 
and foreign work. 

It means something to have State missionary 
societies in many States of the Union, each doing 
evangelistic work within State lines and with a large 
measure of success. 

It means something to have inaugurated a church 
extension work, and to have already nearly reached 
the $1,000,000 mark. 

It means something to have organized a benev- 
olent association that is caring for. the aged, the 



NOV 21 1 



306 THE COMMISSION EXECUTED 

orphan, and the sick, in homes, schools and hos- 
pitals, and that is growing in favor and efficiency 
with amazing rapidity. 

It means much to have formed a National Chris- 
tian Educational Society for the bringing of the great 
cause of Christian education and ministerial training 
to the larger, fuller support of the churches and to 
the plane of efficiency their importance demands. 

It means something to know that this great plea, 
after the lapse of a century, shows greater vigor than 
ever before ; manifesting its power to hold under its 
sway the hearts of men, with no sign of weakness or 
impotency. If this be doubted, I point to the fifty 
thousand new members that are annually rallying to 
the standard set up. I point to the great fact that 
two churches every three days are being erected. I 
point to the fact that the schools and colleges founded 
by this people were never so prosperous as at the 
present time, and that endowments were never in- 
creasing so rapidly as now. I point to the fact that 
there has been a steady increase in missionary funds 
year by year. I point to the fact that this people 
were never so enthusiastic, so self-sacrificing, so spir- 
itually minded as they are at the present time. 

3. When shall a distinct people set for the ad- 
vocacy of a distinct plea feel that their work is 
done? Whenever they succeed in handing their God- 
given message to all for whom it is intended ; until 
then a separate people is necessary, beyond that 
time a separate existence is a sin. Some religious 
bodies have already accomplished their distinctive 
mission. The truths for which Wycliffe, Luther, 
Calvin and Wesley stood are now practically ac- 
cepted by all. Separate organizations are now no 



WHEN A DISTINCTIVE PLEA SHOULD END 307 

longer needed for the advocacy of their great truths; 
they have become a part of the common message. 
May God grant that the same may be true of the 
truths given to the Campbells and their contempo- 
raries. In other words, may the plea for the union 
of God's people soon become unnecessary because 
that most desirable end shall have been reached. 
When that glad day shall come, the kingdom of God 
will make haste to run and be glorified in the earth 
as never before. Then speedily shall be heard the 
shout of victory : Halleluiah ! the Lord God omnipo- 
tent reigneth ! 



THE END. 



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